Penguins prospects kicked off the annual 2025 Prospects Challenge in Buffalo with a 2-1 back and forth gritty battle win against the Boston Bruins prospects team.
Game one of three went exactly how the Penguins and Kirk McDonald wanted to go as they snatched the victory and showed flash from everyone in the lineup.
Ville Koivunen kicked off the Penguins scoring with a beautiful shot that beat Bruins goalie Simon Zajicek, the assists came off a crisp pass Tristan Broz and Quinn Beauchesne. Avery Hayes won the game for the Penguins off a flip pass from Owen Pickering with 26 seconds remaining in the third period as he snuck behind the Bruins defence and roofed it top shelf to secure the win.
Who stood out?
Koivunen who is set to embark on his full first season in the NHL with the highest of expectations showed he is fully capable of playing in the show. He showed every ounce of energy, speed, skill and his ability to move the puck. If he can translate his small showcase last season and what we saw today, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will have a very nice young and speedy left winger to pair alongside them this season.
Quinn Beauchesne had a very eventful but enlightful day, Beauchesne dropped the gloves today and stood up for Penguins 2025 11th overall selection Benjamin Kindel who was boarded by Bruins forward Dylan Edwards. He also notched a secondary assist on Koivunen's goal and showed his size, grit and ability to protect his teammates and lead by example.
Harrison Brunicke was the clear number one standout today as he was absolutely flying and dancing around like a ballerina on the ice, he showed small flashes of a young Kris Letang and was skating circles around players. Despite not appearing on the scoresheet, he had quite the over impressive day.
Sergei Murashov and Gabriel D'Aigle both had great days as they shut the door all game long. Sergei Murashov continues to impress as he stopped all 11 shots that came his way and made a nice flashy save on Fraser Minten. D'Aigle stepped in cold on a four minute penalty kill and stopped 17 of 18 shots as he faced more of the action despite being the second goalie today and not the starter.
Fraser Minten (93) works his way open in the slot on the PP for a goal scoring chance. The shot didn't score but a positive sign offensively for Minten. #BostonBruins #FraserMinten #ProvidenBruins #ProspectChallenge pic.twitter.com/HxF8TjsU4W
— Icy Mane (@Icymane18) September 12, 2025
The Penguins next game is on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. against the Columbus Blue Jackets prospects squad and can be streamed on YouTube and NHL.com