The way the Penguins’ oval-shaped dressing room works is that defensemen are on one side, forwards on the other.
Monday’s 4-3 overtime win over the Calgary Flames at PPG Paints Arena meant a busy night for the right side of the room, as three defensemen scored goals, including Justin Schultz’s game-winner at 2:36 of the extra session.
“Teams are so good nowadays at back-checking, you need that extra defenseman in the rush to create odd-man situations,” Schultz said. “I thought we did a good job [Monday].”
The odd thing about this particular game was that all of their right-side defensemen were the ones scoring, although Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said it wasn’t anything tactical his team was trying to exploit.