Penguins notebook: Maatta relishes time with former Finnish national teammate
RALEIGH, N.C. — Olli Maatta suggested Mexican food when he and Carolina winger Teuvo Teravainen made dinner plans in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday night. But for the Penguins defenseman, the nationality of the meal mattered far less than the language spoken at the table.
“It's definitely something having a guy from your own country you can speak Finnish to,” Maatta said. “It's kind of a thing you can appreciate. I remember my first year, having Jussi (Jokinen). I think he helped me a lot at just getting used to life here.”
The history between Maatta and Teravainen dates to when both played for Finland's under-16 national team. Their paths remained linked as they continued to earn prominent roles on Finnish rosters and went four picks apart in the first round of the 2012 NHL draft.
“Playing with him for the junior national teams, I got to know him a lot and how good of a guy he is,” Maatta said. “Last summer, I trained a bit with him as well. So we see each other then, too.
“I guess there is kind of a competition with him. He's one of those guys who likes to stay on the ice after practice, so he's a good guy to play games with.”
Over dinner Thursday, the 22-year-olds discussed the ups and downs of their careers. Maatta on Wednesday ended an 80-game goalless streak — 62 in the regular season and 18 in the playoffs — that dated to Feb. 8, 2016, and has appeared in all but two games this season, an encouraging sign after struggling with injuries the last few seasons.
Teravainen, taken by Chicago at No. 18 in 2012, should surpass his career high for points in a season (35) within the next few weeks. He entered Friday's game against the Penguins with 24 points in 44 games.
Each of the Finns has wrestled with the dilemma of how to top what they did as NHL newcomers. Maatta burst onto the scene in 2013-14 with 29 points in 78 games, only to see his offensive production go backward in the following seasons. Teravainen impressed the Blackhawks when, in his first playoff experience, he tallied 10 points in 18 games during the 2014-15 Stanley Cup run.
Teravainen tallied 35 points in 78 games with Chicago a season ago but still went to Carolina in June as the alluring part of trade package that also included Bryan Bickell, a salary cap burden for the Blackhawks.
Through 44 games with the Hurricanes, Teravainen is tied with rookie forward Sebastian Aho, a fellow Finn, for third on the team in points.
“When you first get here, you work hard just to stay here (in the NHL),” Teravainen said. “When you kind of have made it to the point where you stay here, you want to be even better and become one of the best players in the league. ... It's just the process. You need to stay patient.”
Maatta knows the feeling. His evolving role with the Penguins suggests there still is plenty to prove. But his friend and countryman witnessed Maatta improve by a surprising margin once before and wonders if another big jump might come soon.
“When we first had our national team, under-16, he was just an average D-man,” Teravainen said. “Big, good size, a good shot, OK skating. But he got a lot better quickly. Under-17 and under-18, he was really good. He worked really hard when he was younger. ... I think he's getting better all of the time. He's got a lot of injuries and a lot of things like that, which are never easy to play with. But he's still young like me.”
Letang takes a lap
Kris Letang (lower-body injury) went through an on-ice workout after the Penguins finished their morning skate Friday at PNC Arena.
Letang, injured Jan. 14 against Detroit, wore a yellow no-contact jersey as he skated with Brian Dumoulin and a couple of the Penguins' healthy scratches.
Dumoulin (broken jaw) participated in the light workout as well as the team's full practice but wore a yellow no-contact jersey the entire time.
HBK heart-to-heart
Coach Mike Sullivan said he met with each of the Penguins' forward lines Friday morning to discuss areas of improvement. When Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel convened with Sullivan, “cooperation” served as the key word of the chat.
“I think that's an area where Bones' line can continue to improve, just cooperative effort, collective effort to get pucks back and sustain possession time in the offensive zone,” Sullivan said. “On the breakouts, it's the same thing, just the details of the tactics of trying to come out of our end zone and make sure that it's collective effort. It's not isolated effort.”
In a noticeable departure from late last regular season and in the playoffs, the “HBK line” has struggled to produce points or even dictate play. Through Thursday, when that trio took the ice, the Penguins' rate of shots allowed per 60 minutes of five-on-five play went up by 4.62, and their rate of shots generated dropped by 6.09, according to www.Corsica.Hockey.
Bill West is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at wwest@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BWest_Trib.
