https://theathletic.com/931734/2019...hnhackl-helped-show-the-islanders-how-to-win/
PITTSBURGH — A few inches to the right and Tom Kuhnhackl might still be a Penguin.
At the very least, his tenure with the franchise would have been extended for at least one more game.
Less than a year ago — May 7, 2018 — Kuhnhackl and the Penguins were battling the rival Capitals in Game 6 of a second-round series at PPG Paints Arena. Off a feed from left winger Carl Hagelin, Kuhnhackl uncorked a wrister from the right circle that beat Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby’s blocker on the far side then clunked off the far post.
The Capitals would score later in the period to claim the series en route to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title.
“Oh … you’re going to bring that up again with the post?” Kuhnhackl said on Tuesday, after his current team, the Islanders, dispatched the Penguins 3-1 in Pittsburgh to earn a stunning sweep of their first-round series. “‘Trotzy’ reminds me of that too.”
“Trotzy” would be Barry Trotz, the former head coach of the Capitals who departed Washington last offseason to take on the same role with the Islanders, the team Kuhnhackl joined as a free agent in July.
A mere 338 days after that non-goal against the Capitals, another goal Kuhnhackl didn’t score set the tone for his former team’s quick exit from the postseason.
Just 33 seconds into Game 1 of their series against the Penguins on April 10, Kuhnhackl raced in off the bench and snapped a wrister from the left circle past the glove hand of Penguins goaltender Matt Murray. Clinking in off the crossbar, the score whipped an already rambunctious crowd at Nassau Veterans Memorial into pandemonium.
A video review nullified the goal, however, after it was ruled the Islanders had a player offside. But in many ways, that non-score showed the Penguins were never truly ready to face what these Islanders brought to the table. It allowed New York to set a tone for the series.
“I mean, it’s true,” said Kuhnhackl. “I don’t think anybody expected us to even make the playoffs. We’re just playing for each other. We’re just playing the way we’re supposed to, the way (Trotz) taught us from Day 1. If we can continue to do that, we can be successful.”
In Game 4, Kuhnhackl helped set up the series-clinching goal.
Pursuing a loose puck dumped into the Penguins’ end boards, Pittsburgh defenseman Marcus Pettersson was unable to claim it after being nudged into the boards by the left hand of a forechecking Kuhnhackl. That allowed Islanders right wing Josh Bailey to claim the loose puck, skate to the right corner and draw in Penguins defenseman Erik Gudbranson, leaving the slot vacant. Islanders center Brock Nelson drifted toward the crease, received a pass from Bailey and jabbed the puck past Murray’s blocker.
In many ways, it was the type of goal these Islanders could trademark.
“That’s part of our game,” Kuhnhackl said. “Getting pucks in, creating turnovers on the forecheck. We had a pretty good chip there. I went in there being physical, tried to create the turnover. Obviously, (Bailey) and (Nelson) made a hell of a play and put it in the net.”
Kuhnhackl appeared in all four games and finished with two assists (to say nothing of his non-goal). He also finished this series with a much different feeling than the last time he completed a postseason round in this building.
“Obviously, it was an exciting series facing my former team, a team I have a lot of great memories with. We’ve been through the same exact thing. It was an intense series. We’re just happy to move on to the next one.”
A member of the Penguins’ Stanley Cup teams in 2016 and 2017, Kuhnhackl left last offseason as a free agent. After failing to reach a contract extension with him as a restricted free agent, the Penguins declined to formally tender him a qualifying offer and allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent. Despite being a contributor to two championship squads, he had to settle for a one-year offer from the Islanders worth $700,000. According to
Capfriendly, Kuhnhackl, along with defensemen Devon Toews and Dennis Seidenberg, has the smallest contract on the Islanders’ NHL roster.
Kuhnhackl’s value was reflected during the regular season as he was a healthy scratch for nearly as many games (33) as he played (36). He even spent some time in the AHL in Bridgeport during parts of October and November.
“For me, it’s tough when you’re not playing every game, but you have to support your teammates, stay positive, and that’s just part of being part of the team,” Kuhnhackl told
Arthur Staple of The Athletic. “Whether bocyyou’re in or out, you always gotta stay positive.”
That outlook is what appealed to Islanders management when it pursued Kuhnhackl, especially given his exposure to the Penguins’ successful Stanley Cup runs.
“It’s important to have that,” Trotz said earlier this season “Part of winning, when you don’t have anybody surrounding you who has won, it’s hard to explain to the next guy. When you’ve won, players see what it takes. We’ve added some guys. All the guys that we’ve added have pretty good pedigree. Maybe they’re not the highest-end players, but they’re high-character guys, Tommy being one of them who has won, and he knows. You see it in their game. Those guys know how to win. They find a way to win. We try to add as many of those guys as we can.”
The only other Islanders players with Stanley Cup rings are defensemen Seidenberg, Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk, center Valtteri Filppula and left winger Andrew Ladd, sidelined for the remainder of the season due to a torn ACL. Kuhnhackl and Ladd are the only ones with multiple titles on their resumes.
“The people that have won, people like Tommy, even if he was a regular or a guy that was coming in and out of the lineup, he had been around a great culture and a winning program,” Trotz said. “That’s so important for our growth as an organization and a (management) group coming in. You look for character people. (General manager) Lou (Lamoriello) did a great job of finding the Tommy Kuhnhackls.”
While the Islanders swept the Penguins, they didn’t escape without incurring some damage. Boychuk and right winger Cal Clutterbuck both left Game 4 early with undisclosed injuries. Kuhnhackl had an ice bag affixed to a tender left shoulder after the contest.
“It’s physical out there. Everybody is a little banged up. That’s a part of hockey.
“That’s playoffs. They’re intense. It’s physical out there. Everybody is banged up: their team, our team, all the other teams. It’s just part of the playoffs.”
Thanks to Kuhnhackl’s contributions, the Islanders are still a part of these playoffs.
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