Jun 7, 2017 By Jeremy Tepper for The 4 min read

CRANBERRY TWP.– Going into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday, many Penguins players used the word ‘desperate’ or something similar to describe the team’s mentality after two straight losses. Now that the Predators have tied the series, making it a best of three going forward, that mentality and sense of urgency only makes sense.

Mike Sullivan prefers to refrain from using that word. The Penguins coach believes that the word ‘desperate’ comes with a connotation of hopelessness, and at this juncture, the team is far from feeling that way.

Beyond a 4-1 loss in Game 4, the Penguins saw some positives. They saw a misleading score, one that wasn’t indicative of the scoring chances they were getting. In fact, it was the first game of the series that the Penguins had more scoring chances than the Predators — 34 to 29 — and that alone, the team believes, shows that their play is heading in the right direction.

“This is a long series and the fact that we’re starting to play better and get more chances is a good sign,” Penguins winger Conor Sheary said. “Just because we didn’t get the result doesn’t mean too much. It’s a three-game series now, we’ve just got to win the next one.”

The difference between the first two games of the series and the last two games can be boiled down pretty easily. In the first two, the Penguins made good use of their scoring chances with nine total goals, and Predators goalie Pekka Rinne was doing far from his best to stop those chances. When the series shifted to Nashville, the Penguins stopped burying their chances, in large part due to Rinne’s uptick in play.

“I thought we had a lot of chances last game, they just didn’t go in. Their goalie played well, obviously,” Penguins winger Phil Kessel said. “I think if we get the same shots again it could be a different story.”

With that in mind, Sullivan has preached to his team to stick to the process. Just continue to work at improving, continue to generate chances and the results will come, the Penguins believe.

In that regard, there’s been some promising progressions that could bear fruit soon. Like Kessel, who hasn’t scored a goal in six games, but came close in Game 4. As Kessel put it, “I always get a chance or two, I’ve just got to make them count.”

“If he’s getting those looks, I like the chance of the puck going in,” Penguins center Sidney Crosby said. “When he shoots, good things happen. Whether it’s him scoring or (creating) for other guys. He’s got a great shot. It’s hard for goalies to handle.”

Then there’s the power play, which is 1 for 16 in the series, and 0 for 13 in the last three games, but showed progression in Game 4 with three shots, 11 shot attempts and seven scoring chances in three power plays.

“I thought our power play really looked good. We didn’t score, but the movement, the momentum it got for our team I thought was where it needs to be,” Sullivan said. “Just focusing on controlling the process, those guys are moving in the right direction.”

With the uptick in chances, the Penguins had two fewer shots than the Predators, their smallest deficit of the series. They also had more shot attempts than the Predators, which is indicative that they’re getting more zone time.

“If we play the same, we’ll score more, for sure,” Penguins center Evgeni Malkin said.

In the process, though, there are some things that are lagging behind. The defense still isn’t quite up to par, and the team isn’t getting into its transition game as well or as frequently as it would like. But the Penguins believe those things will come along, too, if they stick to the plan.

“We’ve just got to play our game and things will work out,” Kessel said.