COLUMBUS — For as much playoff experience as the Penguins possess — Sunday’s lineup had a total of 884 postseason games on its collective ledger — they’re now faced with a relatively unfamiliar situation: They have a chance to sweep a series for the first time since the Eastern Conference final against Carolina in 2009.
But if you’re thinking anyone is arranging a quick trip to Disney World between the quarterfinals and semifinals — no, Jake Guentzel wouldn’t be required to stick with Matt Cullen the entire time — it does not appear as though any of that has happened.
The Penguins are focused. Their coach waited all of a couple minutes to address that topic post-game.
“I think we’re all aware that it’s not over,” goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said from a second-floor conference room at the Penguins’ downtown Columbus hotel late Monday morning. “It’s something we talked about after last game. Coach [Mike Sullivan] had a good talk about it. We know they’re a feisty team. We know they’re playing on home ice still with a lot of energy from the crowd. It’s not over until we win that one.”
That one will start at 7:38 p.m. Tuesday, and it seems perfectly plausible that Fleury will be between the pipes, the same as he was back in 2009.
Fleury’s renaissance, and the amount of fun he seems to be having, was one of several discussion points when Penguins players met with the media. Let’s work through a few of those:
In nine periods against Columbus, Fleury has stopped 103 of 109 shots, a .945 save percentage and a 1.86 goals-against average. Half of those came during Sunday’s first period.
Fleury has a chance Tuesday to break the franchise record he shares with Tom Barrasso for all-time postseason wins. Based on the Penguins’ businesslike demeanor and the Blue Jackets losing defenseman Zach Werenski, their best player in the series, to facial fractures, it’s a good bet that happens.
It’s also a good bet Fleury keeps the smile that has never left his face this season.
“It is a lot of fun, especially that we’re winning,” Fleury said. “It’s fun to part of it, to contribute. It’s a good feeling.”
Sullivan had more complimentary words for Fleury. He talked a lot Monday about his team’s ability to overcome when things didn’t necessarily go its way, and nobody embodied that more than the affable goalie.
The odd part about that, though, is that Sullivan wasn’t displeased with how Sunday’s first period played out, even though the Penguins faced a 3-1 deficit.
“I thought we did a better job handling their forecheck,” Sullivan said when asked what it was that he liked so much about that first period. “We came out of our end zone cleaner. We had more offensive-zone time. We generated more scoring chances. All of those things.”
A quick glance at the Penguins playoff stats shows something funky: Trevor Daley (22:11) and Olli Maatta (21:39) lead all Penguins defensemen in ice time. The same two guys who basically missed the entire final quarter of the season after knee and hand surgery, respectively. The same guys who — and they’ll admit this — struggled before they got hurt.
To be fair, Sullivan and assistant coach Jacques Martin have been masterful at keeping ice time totals to between 19:58 and Daley’s number. Also at not chasing any sort of matchup and instead deploying everybody against everybody. But Maatta and Daley haven’t been on the ice yet for a five-on-five goal against. The Penguins have scored four times when Maatta’s been out five-on-five, twice for Daley. That should tell you something.
“There’s familiarity there,” Sullivan said. “I think they have a good understanding of how we’re trying to play. To their credit, I think they worked extremely hard in the rehab process trying to get back into the lineup. They were prepared.”
Daley didn’t like how much jump he had in the two regular season games he did play. But he said he’s been pleased with his skating and how everything feels timing-wise in the Columbus series.
“You come back from injury this close to playoffs, I didn’t really know what to do expect,” Daley said. “I wanted to be better right away. ... As the games go along, every day you’re getting better and better.”
Many players routinely talk about how they need to treat each playoff game like its own entity, how they want to treat the whole postseason like the regular season, at least until they can’t anymore.
But if you’ve been through a lot of postseason games, as several Penguins have, that can be tough; you know how magnified everything gets.
An issue that should not be overlooked with this team, however, is that several guys may not know any better. First-playoff performers such as Matt Murray, Conor Sheary or Bryan Rust thrived last year. This year, Jake Guentzel is smashing all kinds of records.
Figure, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Ron Francis combined had six goals in their first three playoff games, according to Penguins historian Bob Grove. Guentzel has four.
“He’s playing unbelievable right now,” Maatta said. “He’s being a big part of our team. You saw last night. It’s not only the goals. It’s him holding onto the pucks, making the right play at the right time. It’s pretty amazing to watch what he’s able to do.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.