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PITTSBURGH — On a team that has something to prove in the playoffs, Marian Hossa stands out.
As a group, the youthful Pittsburgh Penguins are eager to prove they are ready to live up to their potential as a great NHL team when they start the playoffs Wednesday night against the Ottawa Senators. Hossa, on the other hand, has been around the NHL for nine seasons but wants to prove his spotty playoff resume is not his true measure as a hockey player.
In 700 regular-season games, the 29-year-old right winger has 299 goals and 648 points. He is regarded as one of the league's best offensive players, at least in the regular season. But in 55 playoff games, Hossa has a mere 13 goals and 35 points.
"There is always something to prove," Hossa said after the Penguins' game-day skate on Wednesday in preparation for the opener of the Eastern Conference quarter-final. "I know there were some years we didn't have a great run and I didn't have a great run in the playoffs.
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"Then there were a couple of years when I felt good and the team almost went to the finals one year."
The team Hossa was talking about is the Senators, with whom he spent the first six seasons of his career. In four of those years, the Senators were eliminated in the first round, including three times to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Hossa was fingered as one of the chief culprits in those losses, although he did have his moments, such as 2003, when he ran up 16 points in 18 games as the Senators made the conference final. But the doubters were back last year after he moved on to the Atlanta Thrashers. They were swept by the New York Rangers in the first round, with Hossa producing just a lone assist in four games.
Now he is in Pittsburgh as a rental player, dealt to the Penguins at the trade deadline with free agency coming for him on July 1. In the meantime, Hossa is expected to click with superstar Sidney Crosby on one of the team's explosive top two lines. The other member of their line is left winger Pascal Dupuis, while centre Evgeni Malkin and wingers Petr Sykora and Ryan Malone make up the second line.
"It's still the same game, it's just higher intensity," Hossa said in comparing the regular season to the playoffs. "We have to battle through the traffic and make hockey more simple.
"Every experience is big and definitely I'm learning. Sometimes it's a longer process but I'm here and hopefully I can help this team go far."
Hossa and Crosby have yet to show they will be a lethal combination. But that is due to injuries rather than a lack of chemistry. Crosby missed 28 games with a sprained ankle and shortly after he arrived from Atlanta on Feb. 26, Hossa was lost to a sprained knee.
In the four regular-season games they played together, from March 27 to April 2, Crosby had two goals and three assists, while Hossa had a goal and two assists.
"I think we definitely have good chemistry," Crosby said. "[Hossa] is a guy who's great to play with. He's responsible, he's strong, he's good with the puck, he makes a lot happen. When you play with a guy like that, it's very easy.
"We feel like we can still improve. With each game we got that [improvement], so hopefully we can keep going."
Hossa hopes to improve his playoff reputation at the expense of his former team, which traded him to the Thrashers in 2005.
"Obviously, I've got lots of friends on the other side but when the puck drops it's just another team I play against," he said.
On the question of whether or not he will stay with the Penguins or explore the free-agent market, Hossa is non-commital.
"Definitely, everything is open," he said. "I haven't spoken to anyone about a contract. That's great because I can just focus on hockey here."
