We are three games into the Pittsburgh Penguins pre-season now. The highlight of the three games so far has undoubtedly been the instant chemistry between captain Sidney Crosby, energetic Chris Kunitz and newcomer Phil Kessel. The Penguins traveled to Detroit to take on the Red Wings for a showdown between two historic franchises.
Here are some notes I took during the game.
Players That Struggled
Rob Scuderi: Pittsburgh Penguins fans are probably not surprised to see his name on this list. Scuderi struggled to find his legs and took a bad tripping penalty when he was beat by a Wings forward. Not a good start for Scuds, looking to bounce back from last season.
Matt Murray: If this guy is looking to take the back-up role behind Marc-Andre Fleury, he needs to step up. Murray allowed 3 goals in twenty minutes to the Wings, two of the three being bad rebounds or what seemed like an easy save to make. He does not seem confident with himself or the five other skaters in front of him. Murray allowed a total of six goals in three periods.
Derrick Pouliot: Pens Labyrinth Editor, Mike Necciai said it best on Twitter.
Hate to say it but Pouliot is playing his way into WBS.
— Mike Necciai (@Michael29Angelo) September 25, 2015
The last month has been pretty disappointing for the youngster who had a good chance of being on the opening night roster. He has struggled not only during the pre-season, but even in the rookie tournament, looking slow, bad passes and lacking NHL caliber awareness.
Players That Impressed for the Pittsburgh Penguins
Connor Sheary: I was impressed by how Sheary worked with superstar Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist. He seemed to keep pace with the flying Russian and was able to feed Geno the puck. He also saw time on the power play, after drawing an interference penalty. We will not see Sheary on a line with Malkin come opening night but he is an option for a fourth line winger.
Oskar Sundqvist: An impressive night for #40 in an ugly loss for the black and gold. Sundqvist moved his feet and seemed to be one step ahead of the Red Wings. He also had a few good shots on goal. I don’t believe he has done enough so far this pre-season to deserve a fourth line center spot but stranger things have happened. He still has time to develop some chemistry with players and get used to the NHL. Sundqvist scored a short-handed goal in overtime on an incredible play by Evgeni Malkin.
Thoughts
- The Pittsburgh Penguins need to get more shots on goal, a lot more. It is clear that the offense lacks firepower in the lineup without Phil Kessel, Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz. Head coach Mike Johnston needs to find lines with good chemistry to support the first line. I would have liked to see Plotnikov on Malkin’s line tonight but for obvious reasons, other guys need to get looks with the superstars.
- The Penguins take too many penalties. I think this is a statement we just continue to say year in and year out with this team. The Pens had 8 penalty minutes through 20:13 of game time. Not ideal for a team that planned on taking less penalties going into the 2015-2016 season. So much for staying disciplined.
- Evgeni Malkin is ready to go this season. Geno looks as good as ever through two preseason games. It looks as if he is playing with something to prove. Whether it be for a cup, a scoring title or MVP he is ready for a big year.
- I like that the league is continuing 3v3 overtime sessions no matter what the outcome of regulation is. This will be beneficial for each team going down the stretch, as well as giving the NHL more experience on how this new system will work. It was a very uneventful and boring OT until Sergei Plotnikov got caught puck watching and took a hooking penalty with nearly two minutes left. Evgeni Malkin made an incredible individual play creating a 2 on 1 with Oskar Sundqvist and it was buried into the back of the net by Sundqvist to give the Pens a 1-0 OT win after a 6-1 loss in regulation.
Next: 4 Mistakes to Avoid This Preseason