The Penguins have had one of the best power plays in the league since Feb. 1 -- as of a few days ago they were fourth in the league at 25.3 percent just behind the Philadelphia Flyers (25.6), Chicago Blackhawks (25.6) and Nashville Predators (25.5).
Overall, they're ranked seventh in the league at 18.2 percent after going 2 for 4 against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night. They have scored at least one power play goal in each of their last 11 games, a season high, going into tonight.
But coach Eddie Olczyk isn't standing pat with the same power play units. Over the past several games, he's been experimenting with the lineup, and it's produced goals from not only regulars like Dick Tarnstrom and Aleksey Morozov, but also Lasse Pirjeta, Landon Wilson and Matt Hussey, now back with Wilkes-Barre.
Two different forward units were on the ice for their two goals on Tuesday -- Milan Kraft, Jon Sim and Tom Kostopoulos, and Rico Fata, Aleksey Morozov and Kraft. Kraft and Fata scored the goals.
"We're seeing that certain individuals can play different parts of the game," Olczyk said. "It's very gratifying; it's very gratifying for the guys on the ice and also for the guys when you're working with different combinations whether it's on the blue line or up front."
The experimentation is part of late-season evaluations of players as the Penguins' coaches and management begin to turn their attention toward next season's roster.
"I will continue to put players in different positions they haven't been used before -- parts of the game, whether it's penalty killing, power play, guys taking face-offs, maybe giving some other players a little bit more of an opportunity in certain areas," Olczyk said. "We're going to have some tough decisions this summer on individual players and we want to make sure we give everybody an opportunity to play in a lot of those different circumstances."
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Sebastien Caron will start tonight and Jean-Sebastien Aubin will start on Saturday as the teams complete their home and home series. "We only have a few games left so I want to try to get him an opportunity to play. (Caron) deserves that," Olczyk said.
Overall, they're ranked seventh in the league at 18.2 percent after going 2 for 4 against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night. They have scored at least one power play goal in each of their last 11 games, a season high, going into tonight.
But coach Eddie Olczyk isn't standing pat with the same power play units. Over the past several games, he's been experimenting with the lineup, and it's produced goals from not only regulars like Dick Tarnstrom and Aleksey Morozov, but also Lasse Pirjeta, Landon Wilson and Matt Hussey, now back with Wilkes-Barre.
Two different forward units were on the ice for their two goals on Tuesday -- Milan Kraft, Jon Sim and Tom Kostopoulos, and Rico Fata, Aleksey Morozov and Kraft. Kraft and Fata scored the goals.
"We're seeing that certain individuals can play different parts of the game," Olczyk said. "It's very gratifying; it's very gratifying for the guys on the ice and also for the guys when you're working with different combinations whether it's on the blue line or up front."
The experimentation is part of late-season evaluations of players as the Penguins' coaches and management begin to turn their attention toward next season's roster.
"I will continue to put players in different positions they haven't been used before -- parts of the game, whether it's penalty killing, power play, guys taking face-offs, maybe giving some other players a little bit more of an opportunity in certain areas," Olczyk said. "We're going to have some tough decisions this summer on individual players and we want to make sure we give everybody an opportunity to play in a lot of those different circumstances."
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Sebastien Caron will start tonight and Jean-Sebastien Aubin will start on Saturday as the teams complete their home and home series. "We only have a few games left so I want to try to get him an opportunity to play. (Caron) deserves that," Olczyk said.
