Penguins/Senators Preseason Thoughts: All systems go for Crosby and Malkin

The Pens’ star centers combine to score five goals and Pittsburgh wins in a fun venue in Sudbury

The Penguins and Ottawa Senators faced off on Sunday in the unique environment of the Kraft Hockeyville game. This year’s event was in Sudbury, ON in a very old barn with tight corners an benches on opposite sides of the ice from one another.

The Penguins trotted out the following lineup:

Some random stray thoughts on the game, which featured the preseason debuts for a number of important Penguin players.

• The Senators scored first four minutes into the game after some passive play with the puck and continuing deferrals from Tristan Jarry to Anthony Beauvillier to Marcus Pettersson didn’t show much urgency on any of their behalves before Ottawa turned the puck over and scored.
• Sidney Crosby would get on the board a little later. Beauvillier rushed the puck up the ice and dropped it for Kris Letang. Letang slipped a backhand pass to the net that Crosby redirected in from the crease. Didn’t take long to see that Sid’s still Sid.

• Ottawa would strike next to regain the lead. Tim Stutzle got some space away from Matt Grzelcyk’s defense and then buried a hard wrist shot short-side on Jarry.
• The first power play group scores a (weird) goal on their second attempt of the game. Bryan Rust did nice work to pull a puck off the wall and send it back to Letang at the point. Letang gave Evgeni Malkin the money pass for a one-timer but a Senator deflected the puck about 10-12 feet into the air and it dropped over the goalie’s shoulder and into the net. Unconventional, but effective. 2-2 game.

• Heating up, Malkin scores his second goal of the game in quick fashion. Malkin gets a pass from the blueline, dekes to his backhand and throws it on net. Looked like it hit the top of the goalie’s leg pad and went in to give the Pens their first lead of the night at 3-2. Nice job by Rickard Rakell to rotate back to the point when he saw Owen Pickering pinched up.

• The Pens kill a few penalties and then get a crack with their power play and it pays off again. Malkin this time holds the puck, gets it over to Bryan Rust. Rust pulls a Letang and makes a backhand pass to Crosby. Hanging at the back door it’s an easy slam home for Sid’s second of the night.

• Tempers boil over and Boko Imama drops the gloves to get in a fight after a faceoff. Simultaneously, Sam Poulin spars with heavyweight Zack MacEwen. MacEwen won a quick takedown and could have re-arranged a downed Poulin’s face with a punch but thankfully held off on it.
• Ottawa pulls the goalie and then Malkin pulls the hats from the heads of the attendees with an empty netter to mark his third goal of the game and set the final at 5-2.

Some individual notes:

• Grzelcyk won’t get credit for an assist but his nice pass up the ice started the sequence for the Pens’ first goal. Then a step-slow defensive effort hurt a few shifts later on Ottawa’s second goal. That’s an early introduction of the give and take nature of his game in his very first period as a Penguin.
• Crosby (2G), Malkin (3G+1A) and Letang (2A): confirmed still good at hockey! No surprises to see the top players get on the board. Noticed that Sullivan put 87+71 out together a tiny bit at 5v5, including a shift for the last 38 seconds of the second period. Hopefully that’s a sign of things to come for this season, no sense in not loading up when the chance arises. More sightings of the two-headed monster are always desired but rarely accomplished, but in this day and age of Pittsburgh lacking elite wing talent quantity it makes more sense than ever to give the two stars looks together in little spurts.
• Jarry’s night came to an end, as scheduled, in the middle of the second period. Nothing impressive or alarming to be said. Pittsburgh did not start very strong and wasn’t the better team while Jarry was playing. He only gave up two goals, one off a defensive turnover and another when one of the NHL’s top young players had plenty of time and space to pick his spot. Jarry did help the team go 2/2 on the PK in his segment of the game. He also got bailed out by a post when a Sens’ passing play had him beat. Not a lot to read into either way.
• Cody Glass almost scored shorthanded, but otherwise I didn’t much like his game tonight. Playing the wing he looked very stationary at times. Just one preseason night so not the end of the world but it stood out on more than one instance.
• Speaking of that, Kevin Hayes was pressed into PK duty and I sure hope that was based on the personnel tonight and not going to continue into the season. Skating is an issue for him, he was a step behind Ottawa’s puck and player movement in the confined space. A team has to do what they have to do to get through these games but if that role is tried it could be a tough go.
• Sam Poulin is up to three minor penalties in two preseason games, but don’t read much into tonight’s tripping minor. The TV cameras caught Sullivan being way more furious than one would expect in an exhibition game towards the refs over not agreeing with that call. Good ol’ Claude Giroux pulled a veteran move to go down when he felt a little bit of stick in his feet. That said, Poulin’s impact on the game otherwise was minimal, which maybe could be read into a bit more as another piece to add into the story for his ‘make or break’ camp.
• On that note, it remains weird that Claude Giroux is an Ottawa Senator. Ditto for seeing veteran David Perron with them now.
• We knew it would happen but No. 72 for the Pens being a left shot (Beauvillier) and not the right-handed Patric Hornqvist is going to take some getting used to seeing. That doesn’t land right either right now.
• One negative note is Blake Lizotte left the game with an upper body injury of unknown severity. Bummer and hopefully nothing that will cost him too much time. Though with the depth of fringe forwards that the team has on hand it should be something they can weather.
• The power play went 2 for 3, which is always nice. Nothing too fancy or revolutionary, Malkin’s goal was sheer luck. But you make your own luck with shot attempts. The wild (sarcasm) idea to have Crosby positioned near the net is one that will pay off, let’s hope that continues.

All in all, cool game and nice vibes for these special exhibitions. When else are you going to see NHL action in a barn that dates back to where Doug Harvey and the 1950’s Canadiens once played in? (After renovations, MSG barely counts). Always something special about an old rink chock full of history and in front of spirited fans who don’t often get the opportunity to see NHL clubs in their neighborhood.