The Penguins were concluding their road trip in Florida last weekend when, a few hours before game time, Patric Hornqvist leaned on a railing at the team’s resort and stared at the Atlantic Ocean for about 20 minutes. Eventually, a Penguins fan recognized him and asked for a picture, temporarily halting his trance. Hornqvist obliged. He then returned to the railing and stared at the ocean some more.
Advertisement
He may have been pondering life, or maybe he was just enjoying the warm ocean breeze that afternoon. Perhaps he was thinking about life across the pond at home in Sweden. Or, just maybe, he was thinking about being Patric Hornqvist, line combinations be damned, even as the landscape of these Penguins has changed.
The NHL in general — and the Penguins in particular — is all about skill and speed. Hornqvist has never offered those attributes in droves and, at 33 and after having played in 845 NHL games, others can give Mike Sullivan more speed and skill. And this is happening. Hornqvist has started each of the past two games on the fourth line.
Yet he has scored 14 goals, including two (at least) against the Red Wings in Sunday’s 5-1 victory at PPG Paints Arena, and continues to be one of the engines that drive these Penguins. After all of these years, he is still a force. He’s still Hornqvist.
His countryman, Marcus Pettersson, explained Hornqvist’s current mindset and importance to the Penguins with precision. The Penguins were sleepwalking through the first period against the Red Wings before Hornqvist sparked them to life, as he’s done so many times before.
“Here’s the thing about him,” Pettersson said, “it doesn’t matter what the score is. It doesn’t matter what line he’s on. It doesn’t matter if the game starts at night, or in the afternoon. It doesn’t matter if the game starts at midnight. You know what you’re getting from him. He’s going to play the game the same way every day. It’s the only way he knows how to play.”
For the first time in his NHL career, Hornqvist seemed to lose his way last season. He started the 2018-19 season in strong fashion but looked lost after sustaining his fifth concussion in five years. He scored three goals in his final 39 games of the season.
Advertisement
Many observers have long suspected that, when Hornqvist game betrays him, it will happen abruptly. There’s nothing graceful about his craft and when warriors of his ilk — think of players like Wayne Simmonds and Tomas Holmstrom — lose their edge, they are done. Hornqvist, frankly, had that look last season.
Was he afraid he had lost his touch?
“Nah,” Hornqvist said slightly less defiantly than usual. “Not really, you know? It is what it is. It was a tough year. I score at the front of the net. And you know what? Sometimes it’s about luck. Sometimes you’re on the wrong side of a rebound or where you tip the puck isn’t at the perfect spot. I can’t always control stuff like that. But I never stopped believing in myself.”
Hornqvist was hardly ignorant of his lack of production last season. It still rests somewhere in the back of his mind, seemingly driving him now. Finally healthy for a stretch, he’s produced 14 goals in 40 games this season, good for 0.35 goals per game, his third best goal per game ratio in his six seasons with the Penguins.
“Let me tell you about not scoring,” Hornqvist said. “That sucked. Not scoring goals? That sucked a lot. I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t like how it felt. But I just kept believing.”
Hornqvist’s fingerprints were all over the Penguins’ victory against woeful Detroit. The Penguins played a horrendous first period and fell behind, 1-0, before Hornqvist went to work.
He was literally rolling on the ice in front of goaltender Jimmy Howard — how Hornqvist is that? — when Sam Lafferty was ultimately credited with the Penguins’ first goal. Later in the first period, he created a perfect screen in front of Howard as Kris Letang’s shot zipped past the goaltender for a power-play tally.
In the second period, Hornqvist scored two goals and had the Red Wings chasing him around the ice, clearly driving them to the point of utter frustration. It was classic Hornqvist.
Advertisement
“You saw it today,” Pettersson said after Sunday’s game. “We came out flat. Really flat. That was a bad first period. And he just carried us. That’s what he does.”
Pettersson insists Hornqvist deserves a heavy dose of credit for the Penguins’ magnificent regular season. They’ve played much of the season without Sidney Crosby and a galaxy of stars. Hornqvist himself has missed time to injury.
When he’s been in the lineup, though, he’s made quite an impact.
“You have to look at all of the injuries that we’ve had to deal with this season,” Pettersson said. “The only way you get through having that many people out for that long is to play really, really hard. And nobody plays harder than Horny. We really have been feeding off him and all of that energy he brings. He never stops.”
Hornqvist has long possessed the reputation for being the ultimate locker room presence, a never-ending source of energy when the Penguins require it. Is this kind of thing overblown?
“God no,” Bryan Rust said. “That’s a real thing. Everything you hear about the energy he brings to the locker room is true. I don’t really know how to explain it. But he’s just different. There’s something special about him.”
Even the hardest of hard-working players look up to Hornqvist. Brandon Tanev plays hockey like a madman, never taking a shift off, never shying away from contact. He doesn’t have his feel around the net, but in some ways, Tanev’s mentality is very much that of Hornqvist’s.
“He plays the game the right way,” Tanev said. “And he’s been doing it for a long time. It rubs off on a lot of us, myself included. I want to gear my game toward his.”
Figuring out Hornqvist’s spot in the Penguins’ lineup is becoming a cloudy proposition. Crosby appears comfortable while flanked by Jason Zucker and Dominic Simon on the top line. The second line currently features Evgeni Malkin centering Jared McCann and Rust. Dominik Kahun could replace McCann when he returns from a concussion.
Advertisement
The coaching staff loves the Teddy Blueger line, which includes Tanev and Zach Aston-Reese. It’s hard to imagine that line being separated, though Aston-Reese did leave Sunday’s game with an unspecified injury. This has essentially become the Penguins’ third line.
So, what’s left for Hornqvist?
Mike Sullivan had a chat with him recently, sensing that the right wing wouldn’t necessarily be thrilled about playing on the fourth line. There is nothing arrogant about Hornqvist, but he does possess enough pride to encompass an entire team. Playing on the fourth line with Lafferty and Andrew Agozzino probably isn’t Hornqvist’s ideal scenario.
Instead of pouting, he simply was the game’s dominant performer on Sunday.
“He’s a great teammate and person,” Sullivan said. “And just wants to help this team win. He’s the ultimate competitor as we’ve witnessed over the past five-plus years. I was happy for him that he scored a few. He was certainly deserving.”
The first goal was initially awarded to Lafferty but then was changed to Hornqvist’s goal. Hats soared onto the ice after his third goal, but it turns out that Hornqvist wasn’t awarded a hat trick as the first goal went back to Lafferty after the NHL intervened.
Hornqvist has scored 235 NHL goals and isn’t so worried about his numbers anymore, even though they’re quite good. He just wants to win championships, something he delivered with his iconic game-winner late in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final in 2017 in Nashville.
“This is a good hockey team,” Hornqvist said. “And we don’t beat ourselves the way we did the last couple of years. We’re just good. And we work hard. So hard. I like that. It’s fun for me right now. I like how this team works.”
No one works harder than Hornqvist. The game hasn’t passed him by just yet, as his brute force is still so effective in a hockey world of speed and skill.
Like the ocean’s crashing waves, Hornqvist never stops.
“He’s just a guy who inspires all of us,” Pettersson said. “And he’s still such a great player. He was so huge for us in this game. We know we need him.”
(Phot0: Charles LeClaire / USA Today)
