Pens Beat Sens: Cupid, Draw Back Your Bow

Last night's win over an injury-depleted Ottawa Senators team was one of the year's most complete efforts for the suddenly un-depleted Penguins.  While most of the attention after the game has focused on Matt Cooke's did-he-or-didn't-he-mean-to stomp on Erik Karlsson's ankle, a more interesting subplot was the Penguins' handling of Kris Letang's reintegration into a power play unit that had played well in his absence.  Paul Martin took over Letang's spot at the point during the three games that Letang sat due to injury, and filled in admirably, exhibiting composure in high pressure situations and contributing to a power play that went a healthy 5-for-13.

With Letang returning to the lineup, it was unclear whether Martin would be bumped back down to the second unit, or if Bylsma would pair the two.  As it turns out, Bylsma stuck with Martin as the sole defenseman at the beginning of the power play, then subbed in Letang for Kunitz about a minute in, resulting in a Letang-Martin-Neal-Crosby-Malkin look that was moving the puck, creating scoring chances, and capitalizing.

I've been arguing against playing forwards at the point for a while now, but even I have to admit that the thought of Martin quarterbacking our power play would have given me the shakes before the season began.  For all the credit that Martin has garnered for his improved defensive play, it was his offensive instincts that worried me most last season.  Though he could make a decent breakout pass, he showed a serious tone-deafness when it came to pinching, jumping into the action just as the puck was being turned over, or already heading in the other direction.

Last night, however, we saw a completely different story.  Let's start with the Pens' first (and, technically, only) power play goal, which knotted the game at 2-2.  As you can see here, the Penguins set up with three men (Martin, Letang, Malkin) up high, and Crosby and Neal down low.  Malkin makes a cross-ice pass to Martin, who prepares to set up Letang for a one-timer from the blue line.

Martin's man hustles to cut off the pass between Martin and Letang, but overplays it, opening up a ton of room around the right faceoff circle, like so:

Martin recognizes the situation and pushes the puck past his man, skating hard toward the net before finding Crosby behind the goal line.  At the same time, James Neal drifts in the opposite direction, crossing from the left post to the right circle, and sits there waiting for the puck.

Rather than fading back to his point, Martin continues toward the net, eventually ending up behind the goaltender.  He crosses in front of Sergei Gonchar, who is fronting Crosby, causing just enough of a distraction to clear a passing lane for Sid.  Crosby finds Neal, who is just about automatic from the hash marks, especially with such a clear path in front of him.

Martin's aggressiveness sets the tone here; his pinch is well timed, catching the Sens out of position, creating space and - hey! - encouraging some much-needed movement on the power play. 

Perhaps emboldened by this success, Martin is even more aggressive on the Pens' fourth goal, which comes moments after a Sens penalty expires.  Malkin has the puck at the half boards, and three of the four Senators on the ice shade toward the right side of the ice.

Malkin and Crosby criss-cross in the corner and Martin, noticing that the left side of the ice has been effectively evacuated, drives to the net.  With Chris Phillips about to step out of the penalty box, Martin's pinch is something of a risk, but it's a calculated one:  all four penalty killers are down low, Letang is back to defend the pass up ice to Phillips, and, of course, Malkin is extremely hard to knock off the puck.

Malkin stops behind the net, and Martin and Neal both open up at opposite sides of the goal.  As you can see below, both Senators forwards are caught in no-man's-land, defending nobody in particular, and the front of the net is wide open:  

Malkin passes across the grain to Neal, who one-touches it across an empty crease to Martin, who redirects the puck right back to the crease, where Crosby has taken up position for an easy goal.  Compare the image below with the one above and one thing stands out: the Pens are moving around, and the Sens are standing in the exact same place.

In real time, it's a beautiful tic-tac-toe play, and it doesn't happen without Paul Martin putting pressure on the defense:

It's worth noting that if Letang wasn't on the ice here, Neal would likely be covering the right point, and Martin would be much less likely to pinch.  Letang's presence serves as a security blanket for Martin, who can take an offensive posture here with Letang's speed and sound defensive play as insurance.

I think, and I hope, that we'll get to see Martin and Letang together on the power play moving forward; according to Bylsma, the plan currently is for Letang to take the first player off the ice from the first power play unit, most likely Kunitz.  Bylsma might be stubbornly clinging to his dream of a four-forward power play unit to the detriment of the team, but I can see his reasoning: with such a drop off between our first and second power play teams, it makes sense to stagger the line changes.  Crosby and Malkin tend to stay on ice for a minute and a half anyway, so switching out a tired Kunitz for a fresh Letang breathes life into our most potent lineup, takes advantage of a potentially gassed penalty kill, and puts us in a good position to recover defensively in the event of a turnover.

If Paul Martin can keep up this level of play, he has the potential (as we saw last night) to make our power play that much more versatile, and to help fill the void left by Gonchar, which is what he was brought in to do in the first place.