Penguins coaches had meticulous plan for jumping right into playoff intensity - TribLIVE

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These are unique times, and the NHL is staging an unprecedented postseason. Coaches have no historical data to fall back on in planning how to approach it.

Then again, they had little else to do over about a three-month span but to try to figure exactly that out.

With Game 1 of their qualifying-round series beginning Friday, the Pittsburgh Penguins are putting the finishing touches on their preparation for going from a virtual offseason immediately into the pressure-cooker that is the Stanley Cup playoffs. Coach Mike Sullivan said his staff “spent an exorbitant of time to make sure we thought this whole scenario through as best we could.”

“We looked at it from a broad perspective, a 40,000-foot view, and planned the camp out from Day 1 til Game 1 when the series starts,” Sullivan said during a video call with media this week. “We looked at it physiologically and how we wanted to make sure our guys were in the proper condition and what was going to be essential for that every day in order for that to take place.”

.@TimBenzPgh and @SethRorabaugh discuss the #Penguins power play and #Canadiens’ equalizing factor ahead of the start of the playoffs https://t.co/V7c9f27P5y

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Under NHL edict governing the rules for all teams, by the time the Penguins take the ice Saturday for Game 1 against the Montreal Canadiens, they will have had exactly 10 practices, four intrasquad scrimmages and one exhibition game to account for the total of their formal, full-team on-ice preparation.

The work of Sullivan and assistants in navigating that challenge was nothing if not methodical.

“We looked at it tactically and how we were going to cover all the aspects of the team game so that our cooperative play would be where it needs to be for us to be effective,” Sullivan said. “We looked at it from a pre-scout standpoint making sure that we were well aware of what our opponents bring to the table and where their strengths lie and where maybe we might have an opportunity to take advantage. So, we looked at it in a number of different ways, and then as you go through the process you debrief after every day and you make subtle tweaks along the way in what you think is best for your team.

“Our hope is that we get our team in the best possible position for a Game 1.

“Maybe the first day, we were trying to look around, and I ran into the entire Philly team,” #Penguins Kris Letang said during a video call. https://t.co/3aTpUxX1Jl

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As a veteran (read: aging) team in some areas, the time off allowed bodies to heal and minor injuries to vanish. But it also caused for a disruption in playoff-preparatory routine that had been refined over more than a decade of postseason runs by franchise cornerstones such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.

“You know you don’t have the same time frame to get ready (as one would) for a regular playoffs, so you’ve got probably to build it up as you go in and probably simplify things early on,” Letang said. “You might not be all in sync at all (facets), so you might have to simplify things.”

Arguably the biggest challenge of immersing a team directly into a Stanley Cup Playoffs after a 4 ½-month absence is the lack of true game reps. That was in part why Sullivan scheduled so many intrasquad scrimmages.

Even that they carried more intensity than a normal intrasquad game would in more typical times, the shortcomings in regards to playoff preparation are obvious. Tuesday’s game against the rival Philadelphia Flyers in Toronto, again, was more competitive than a typical preseason game. That helped, but still leaves the teams lacking in true playoff-level competitiveness.

“It’s just being prepared as quick as you can and getting back in that game mode,” goalie Tristan Jarry said. “It (usually) might take a couple games in the regular season where you get back into it, but here we’re right into the playoffs. So you have to be at your best right away.”

Keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.

Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at cadamski@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Penguins/NHL | Sports