The 5 Biggest Surprises for the Pittsburgh Penguins So Far This Season

As the 2014-15 NHL regular season heads into its third month, the Pittsburgh Penguins are once again in a familiar spot, atop the Metropolitan Division, and have the look of a Stanley Cup contender.

While their success is not surprising, some of the reasons for their success are, and as the season wears on, it remains to be seen whether these are a sign of things to come or simply blips on the radar.

As the team looks ahead to a busy December with 14 games in 31 days, let's take a look at the five biggest surprises for the Pittsburgh Penguins so far in the 2014-15 season.

Patric Hornqvist

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Acquired from the Nashville Predators to give the Penguins scoring depth and add a net-front presence to their offense, Patric Hornqvist was not expected to be a point-per-game player.

However, with 11 goals and 14 assists in 25 games, that is exactly what he has been thus far, and his willingness to go to the high-traffic areas on the ice has made the Pens a much tougher team to defend against.

After a spectacular start to the season with eight points in the first four games, Hornqvist has been a remarkably steady contributor and has not gone more than two games without a point so far this season.

Having already scored half as many goals this season as he scored all of last season, Hornqvist has proven to be a steal, and his strong play is a big reason why the Pens sit atop the Metropolitan Division.

Goal Differential Versus Opponents

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Blessed with a wealth of offensively gifted players, the Penguins have consistently been among the top scoring teams in the league, but it has been their ability to clamp down defensively that has them near the top of the league in goal differential at plus-27.

While the departure of James Neal coupled with the introduction of a puck possession system that emphasizes quantity of scoring chances over quality, the Pens were not expected to be as dynamic offensively.

However, the Pens are scoring at an even higher rate than last season, from 3.04 goals per game to 3.33, all while reducing their goals-against from 2.52 last season to 2.25 with five shutouts.

Despite a rash of injuries to some of their top offensive players, the Pens have shown an ability to win both high-scoring and low-scoring games, and with a five-on-five goal ratio of 1.50, which is second best in the league, they are not as reliant on their power play as they used to be.

Reduction in Ice Time for Top Lines

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Of all the changes that new head coach Mike Johnston has implemented since his hiring, the most surprising one has been to reduce the ice time of his top lines, but it seems to have paid dividends so far.

Instead of allowing his stars to take long shifts as Dan Bylsma tended to do, Johnston has emphasized using shorter and quicker shifts, and as a result, the Pens have been able to play a more uptempo and attacking style of hockey.

Despite Sidney Crosby's reduction in ice time per game from 21:58 to 19:30 and Evgeni Malkin's from 20:04 to 18:40, both are ahead of their point-per-game pace of last season and will be fresher for the postseason.

While the "less is more" approach to handling two of the best players in the world seems counterintuitive, the results speak for themselves, and the decision to share more of the offensive workload has resulted in the Pens becoming a deeper and more balanced team.

Third-Line Production

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While the Penguins haven't been able to put together as strong of a third line as the Jordan Staal, Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke combination, they seem to have found some promising combinations.

With Brandon Sutter and Steve Downie providing speed, skill and grit in equal amounts, the Pens have been able to insert Beau Bennett, Blake Comeau and even AHLers like Andrew Ebbett and Jayson Megna on the line and still get good production. 

Having been given an increase in ice time and responsibility, Sutter is ahead of his point-scoring pace from last season, while Downie is already halfway to his point total of a year ago and leads the team in penalty minutes. 

Having seen their bottom two lines exploited in the playoffs last summer, the Pens made a concerted effort to become a deeper team. So far, that effort has been rewarded.

Marc-Andre Fleury's Dominance

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For the past few years, it's become almost an offseason tradition for fans and analysts to speculate about Marc-Andre Fleury's future with the Penguins and debate whether the team needed to cut ties and move on.

With the added intrigue of the Pens replacing both the general manager and head coach this past summer, Fleury's future with the Pens seemed more in doubt than ever.

However, his incredible early-season performance, which includes a 2.08 goals-against average, a .928 save percentage and a career-high-matching five shutouts so far, convinced Pens general manager and former Penguin goaltender Jim Rutherford to end the speculation and re-sign him.

While Fleury's critics will point to his previous strong starts in the regular season that were followed by horrible endings in the postseason as reason for continued concern, Fleury's performance thus far has surpassed even what his staunchest supporters could have imagined.