It was great to be back at the Igloo tonight. It felt very much like I hadn’t left. The Pens went on to win their pre-season opener with an overtime goal by Chris Kunitz.
Just a few notes on the game:
Tangradi looks pretty good. I have very high hopes for him. He is huge, highly skilled and plays with an edge. He did not look totally out of place on a line with Sid. He is not going to start with the Pens, but I wouldn’t doubt the possibility of seeing him sometime this season.
Despres got a ton of ice time….21:55 to be exact. The Pens must be looking long and hard at this kid. He looked very tentative to me. He certainly made some mistakes, but you can also see that he has some nice tools. He is 18 years old.
Chris Conners looked very good. He is a small guy, but plays with a ton of energy and speed.
It was nice to see Kunitz put a couple in tonight. He is going to have to do that with much greater frequency than he did in the playoffs.
Deryk Engelland beat the snot out of one of the Blue Jackets. After hitting him with a blow that sent him to the ice, Engelland turned and skated away as if he was expecting to knock the guy out the whole time.
It is good to be back!
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