Penguins' Penalty Kill Among Best In NHL

Despite some new faces and tough losses so far this season, one thing that has consistently stood tall for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the early days of the 2024-25 season is their penalty kill.

Pittsburgh's penalty kill is currently ranked 6th in the league in terms of penalty kill percentage at 86.5 percent. It has surrendered only one goal over the last seven games and just four total on the season.

So what's working so well for this unit?

"I think just working as one unit," forward Noel Acciari said. "Making sure we're available for clears if (anyone) needs help, and just being all in sync. And I think it's been really good for us."

Acciari also credited the work of assistant coach Mike Vellucci, who has overseen the Penguins' penalty killing unit since the 2020-21 season. He said that Vellucci prepares the unit "very well" for every game and every team, and this is a sentiment that defenseman Jack St. Ivany echoed, unprompted.

"We've just stuck to our game plan well," St. Ivany said. "Vellucci does a good job of putting a game plan together for us and pre-scouting the other team, and I feel like all of our guys are just really attentive to detail. You know your responsibility going into the game, and you've just got to trust that your teammates are doing the same part."

St. Ivany also pointed to the solid goaltending the team has been getting lately, which certainly helps any penalty kill unit succeed.

"You're gonna give up some chances," he said. "They've got an extra guy, but I feel like the goaltender is a huge part of it, and we've been getting great goaltending lately."

Another thing that has factored into the success of the penalty kill is the speed it has in terms of the forward unit. The Penguins typically roll out two forward units - one with Acciari and Cody Glass and the other with Drew O'Connor and Lars Eller - with each unit having a forward who can pressure the opposing penalty kill with their skating ability.

O'Connor was part of that equation last season and owns the team's lone shorthanded goal this season. Glass is cut from a similar cloth, and having two guys who can threaten with their speed, skating, and ability to go the other way with the puck puts a ton of pressure on other teams to execute.

"I think it just makes the other power plays just have to execute better, quicker, and try not to make mistakes so we can capitalize on those guys and use their speed," Acciari said. "And get a couple more (shorthanded) goals."

And players like O'Connor and Glass have also used their speed advantageously in the defensive zone.

"I'm not much of a power play guy myself, but I know that'd be pretty annoying if a guy's chasing you down like that," St. Ivany said. "Those guys are very fast players, and if they can get in there and just disrupt the timing on another team's breakouts, that goes a long way because they're not able to get set up in the zone."