For Christmas this year, the Penguins have had some surprise gifts that they were not expecting. A few of those being the emergence of Blake Lizotte, the emergence of Philip Tomasino, and depth scoring. Those have been pleasant surprises for the Penguins this Christmas season and they hope for more of those presents under the tree as Santa makes his way to town in just nine days.
Blake Lizotte's Emergence
When the Penguins entered free agency in the offseason, they were not and could not afford to approach it the same way they did last season. They could not go all in on big contracts and overpay for old players. The team was not built for that.
The team was built to find young players that either needed a fresh start or ones that were underlooked on their previous team. And that is where Blake Lizotte comes in on his 2-year contract he signed.
He does a lot of really good things. He has a lot of speed, he forechecks really well, and he just generally knows where to play when he is on the ice. He has been the perfect addition to the Penguins lineup and has been quite the Christmas gift this holiday season.
To OT we go.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 15, 2024
A look at the Penguins' first tally, brought to you by Blake Lizotte 💪 pic.twitter.com/9s5JQzC1xY
Philip Tomasino's Emergence
Tomasino was not a free agent add like Lizotte was, but Tomasino was one of those players that needed a fresh start and boy has he had that.
He has added 3 goals and 2 assists since coming over to the Penguins and brings a lot of speed like Lizotte does and also has been quite the addition.
Philip Tomasino with a SWEET no-look apple to Evgeni Malkin for his 3rd point in 4 games with Pittsburgh 🐧🔥 pic.twitter.com/3omv0Pcy5g
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) December 4, 2024
What a gift the depth scoring has been
The Penguins say it every year that they need to get depth scoring, but this season it has been there just about every game.
It was very apparent and was a strength in one of the recent victories over the Canadiens. They got goals from Nieto, Acciari, Beauvillier, and got points from Glass and O'Connor and Grzelcyk.
That is quite the contribution that the Penguins need every night if they want to win more games. They need all the depth scoring and need to keep that gift as the season goes on.