Kris Letang collected the pass from Dominik Simon at the top of the left circle and patiently waited …
And waited …
And waited ...
Finally, as the Penguins defenseman wound up, Dallas Stars winger Joe Pavelski went down to block the shot. OK, no problem. Letang calmly sidestepped one defender. He drew his stick back again. A second defender, Tyler Seguin, slid to stop a shot attempt. Again, Letang deked a defender, walked in and beat goalie Anton Khudobin through his five hole.
The go-ahead, third period goal was one for the highlight reel, no doubt. In coach Mike Sullivan’s words, “It was certainly a goal-scorer’s goal.”
And here’s the wild thing: Letang initially wasn’t even looking to shoot. He was hoping to set up a teammate.
“I was trying to find the back-door play,” Letang said. “But they played man-on-man, so it gave me room.”
During the Penguins’ 4-2 win over the Stars at PPG Paints Arena, Letang tacked on an empty-netter to seal things. The second goal was nicely done in its own way and certainly critical with the Stars threatening.
But let’s focus on that first one. In many ways, it highlighted what the Penguins have come to expect from the player they call “Tanger.” Skill. Instinct. Skating. Vision. Patience.
Few defensemen in the NHL have that kind of ability with the puck on their stick. Heck, not a ton of forwards can do it.
“You see him and you kind of want to do the same thing,” fellow defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “But not a lot of us can do that.”
Plays like this one are what helped make Letang the highest-scoring defenseman in team history. Just this week, he notched his 500th career point.
Yet, there are times when he can be a polarizing player. He’s a gambler. Sometimes it pays off in spectacular fashion. When it doesn’t? The critics come out of the woodwork. That was especially the case during last year’s first-round postseason sweep when his decision to skate into a swarm of Islanders defenders led to an odd-man rush the other way that set the stage for the series.
The challenge for Letang and the Penguins is to maximize moments like Friday night, while minimizing the ones like last postseason.
“We want to stay out of his way in terms of his ability to create offense,” Sullivan said earlier this week when asked about Letang. “But we’re just trying to help him recognize situations when he needs to make simple plays and not put himself in difficult positions or our team in difficult positions.”
It’s still early. But so far, Letang has seemingly struck that balance. He’s off to a torrid start offensively, recording at least one point in seven of the Penguins’ eight games this season. He currently ranks second in both goals (4) and points (10) among NHL defensemen.
“What I’ve really liked about his game most recently is just the decisions he’s making,” Sullivan said earlier this week. “I think his defensive game has been a lot better over the last couple of weeks. He’s getting more involved physically, which I think helps him be at his best.”
In their current injury-ridden state, the Penguins have leaned on both parts of Letang’s game. With four forwards missing, including most notably Evgeni Malkin, a defenseman who can generate offense like Letang becomes even more significant. But when that defenseman is also making solid decisions and playing within structure, that’s how a team that had to play defenseman Juuso Riikola as a forward earlier this week is somehow on a five-game winning streak.
As the season goes on, Letang will remain a player to watch – as he always is. If the Penguins can get healthy and continue to get this kind of decision-making and offensive production out of Letang, they’ll have an intriguing mix of structure, speed and skill.
Will it all come together? Time will tell. For now, we’ll just have to do as Letang did ... and wait.
Mike DeFabo: mdefabo@post-gazette.com or on Twitter @MikeDeFabo.
First Published: October 19, 2019, 4:46 a.m.
