Heading into Dec. 4, a contest in which forward Drew O’Connor returned to the Penguins roster after a five-game stint killing penalties in the AHL, Pittsburgh’s penalty kill led the NHL at 91.4% on the season.
Although the host Canucks scored just seconds after the expiration of a Vancouver power play on Saturday, there’s no question this Penguins penalty kill has been stellar through 24 games. The best penalty kill result in Pittsburgh franchise history was an 87.8% mark in 2011-12; in fact, no NHL team has ever maintained a penalty-kill rate of over 90% for an entire season.