The Penguins Need This Version Of Kris Letang For The Playoff Push

It's no secret that Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang has struggled quite a bit at times this season. 

There have been games when he looks completely lost, and others when he shows everyone that Father Time hasn't caught up yet. 

The latter games have been more prevalent as of late, especially on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers, a game the Penguins won 6-3. He was methodical with his decisions, including one on the power play where he had an outrageous keep at the blue line. 

It looked like the Flyers were about to clear the puck when Letang jumped up with his hand to knock the puck down and settled it. The puck stayed in the offensive zone, eventually leading to Sidney Crosby's goal that made it 5-1. The Flyers left Crosby wide open at the side of the net, which was obviously a major mistake. This was Crosby's 60th career goal against the Flyers, a team he loves to torment. 

The athleticism was on full display, and the power play hasn't missed a beat since he replaced Erik Karlsson on the top unit earlier this week. Speaking of that, Karlsson will be out for at least the next two weeks, which is tough because of how great he's been this year, especially offensively. 

Before going down, Karlsson was on the top pair with Parker Wotherspoon, while Letang was on the second pair with Brett Kulak. Letang's pair is now the top pair, and he led all Penguins' defensemen in ice-time on Thursday with 23:25 at all situations. 

Kulak and Letang have been paired for 15 games this season and have gotten more comfortable together in each one. Kulak isn't flashy, but he's steady in his own zone, which Letang needs.

The two have played 215:10 at 5v5 this season, and the underlyings have continued to improve. Are they perfect? No, but as a pair, they've been on the ice for 50.4% of the expected goals, 50% of the high danger chances, 49% of the scoring chances, and 48.4% of the shot attempts. With more minutes, I think you'll see the scoring chances and shot attempts rates get above 50%. 

They've also been on the ice for only five goals against this season, which speaks to how well they're playing together in their own zone. 

Letang was also tremendous against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, despite the Penguins falling 2-1 in a shootout. He was a major reason why the Penguins tied the game late in the third period when he helped win a battle along the boards against former Penguin Jake Guentzel before Malkin fired a perfect shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy. Letang got the primary assist on the goal.

Letang played 16:19 at 5v5 during that game and was on the ice for 51.5% of the shot attempts, 56.6% of the expected goals, and 58.8% of the scoring chances.

Back on Jan. 1, Letang scored the game-winning goal in overtime against the Detroit Red Wings with an absolute rocket of a shot. It was a goal he really needed, and it also gave the Penguins their third-straight win at the time. The goal also came in his 1,200th game, and Letang now has the second-most overtime goals by a defenseman in NHL history (13). 

He played 18:22 at 5v5 in that game and was on the ice for 67.6% of the shot attempts, 91.7% of the expected goals, 81.8% of the scoring chances, and 100% of the high danger chances. He was an absolute menace in all three zones in that game.

The Penguins come into Saturday's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets in third place in the Metro with 54 points. They're in the thick of the playoff race and are trying to end their three-season playoff drought since they haven't made the postseason since the 2021-22 season, when they lost to the New York Rangers in seven games.

In order to do that, they'll need Kris Letang to keep playing the way he has been for the last few weeks. 

(Data via Natural Stat Trick and MoneyPuck). 

Bookmark THN - Pittsburgh Penguins on your Google News tab to follow the latest Penguins news, roster moves, player features, and more!