Kris Letang’s contributions to Penguins piling up
By Ron Musselman | Globe Correspondent May 29, 2013
PITTSBURGH — Penguins defenseman Kris Letang has kicked it into overdrive in the playoffs.
And that’s saying something.
Earlier this month, Letang received his first nomination as one of three finalists for the Norris Trophy, recognizing his regular-season performance as one of the NHL’s top defensemen.
Fast forward to postseason play, during which Letang has produced 16 points in 11 games. He has three goals and an NHL-high 13 assists, tying him with center Evgeni Malkin for the team lead in scoring.
The teammates are tied for second in the league, trailing only center David Krejci of the Bruins, who has 17 points in 12 playoff games.
Letang is the point man on the top-ranked Penguins’ power-play unit, which has a 28.2 percent conversion rate in the playoffs, and he is averaging 2:29 shorthanded minutes per game on a penalty-killing unit that is clicking at 89.7 percent.
He also has a plus-7 rating, tying him for the team lead, and Letang is averaging a team-best 27 minutes of postseason ice time per game.
“He was already a great player,” said defenseman Mark Eaton, who has been paired with Letang at various times throughout the first two playoff series. “He’s even greater now.”
A third-round draft pick in 2005, Letang has scored 13 career playoff goals, which ranks second among Penguins defensemen to Larry Murphy’s team record of 15.
Letang occasionally has drawn comparisons with high-scoring Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey, who teamed with Mario Lemieux to help deliver Pittsburgh’s first Stanley Cup championship in 1991.
Although the 26-year-old Letang enjoyed watching Coffey play as a kid growing up in Montreal, he shrugged off any comparisons.
“I don’t think I’m up there,” Letang said.
Coffey captured three Norris trophies and four Stanley Cup titles overall, while Letang has one Norris Trophy nomination and one Cup. Yet, few dispute the fact that Letang is one of the most highly-skilled defenseman in the NHL.
Nine of his points in the playoffs have come with the man-advantage. And he had a league-leading nine assists in Round 2, when the Penguins beat the Senators in five games. Letang also stood out during the Penguins’ last Stanley Cup-winning season, in 2009, recording 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 23 playoff games.
“It’s been a grind since the first year I came here,” Letang said. “The coaches have helped me out. It’s Obviously, [assistant coach] Todd Reirden did a great job with me with watching a lot of videos and a lot of extra time on the ice working on little things.“It’s just getting more confident, more mature every year. I think that was the key to my game.”
The Penguins, who didn’t practice Tuesday, are averaging 4.3 goals per game in the playoffs. No team in the past 15 years has scored goals at that dizzying pace during a postseason run that lasted at least two rounds.
“We have a lot of scary guys up front,” Letang said.
Letang, 6 feet and 201 pounds, will look to join Randy Carlyle (1981) as the only defenseman in Penguins history to capture the Norris Trophy.
The other two finalists, which will be doled out during the Stanley Cup Final, are P.K. Subban of the Canadiens and Ryan Suter of the Wild.
Letang tied Subban for the NHL lead among defensemen with 38 points (five goals, 33 assists) in the regular season, despite playing just 35 of a possible 48 games.
Letang’s 25 even-strength points were tops among NHL defensemen and he was the first Penguins player to lead all blue liners in scoring since Coffey netted 103 points in 1989-90.
“[Kris] was as good as any defenseman I saw in the games I played in or watched on TV this year,” Eaton said.“Absolutely, he’d be high on my [Norris] list. “Playing defense, the more experience you get, the better off you’re going to be. He’s always had the skill, the speed, and the shot.”
Letang, a two-time All-Star, has learned a lot from veteran teammate and defenseman Brooks Orpik, who played at Boston College and makes his offseason home in the Boston area.
In 18 games against the Bruins, Letang has 10 points, with two goals and eight assists.