Penguins Flunk First Impression

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Those words were fairly drilled into me as a kid by parents, teachers and other well-meaning adults. Well, our Penguins had a chance to make a good first impression last night. They fell well short of the mark in a rather lifeless 3-0 loss to Columbus.

Yeah, I know. Only a handful of regulars played. And there were a few positives. We outshot the Blue Jackets 28-23, including 12-3 in the opening frame, and won 62 percent of the faceoffs. However, I thought we looked shockingly benign and passionless with precious little aggression or spark. With a chance to seize an opportunity and make a statement, I thought most of our guys instead faded into the background.

A few evaluations:

Nathan Legare (rw)

Having heard so many good reports on Legare out of camp, I was especially anxious to watch him play. I thought he did okay, registering three hits and three shots on goal. He made a nice rush and displayed good speed early in the game and, per his reputation, showed some hop in the offensive zone. He spent a little too much time cruising between the circles looking for a setup a la James Neal, but that’s what goal scorers tend to do. His linemates didn’t do an especially good job of getting him the puck.

Brian Boyle (c)

The big guy was pretty much as advertised. He threw a couple of booming checks, was strong defensively and in the faceoff circle and solid on the pk. He isn’t going to win any fastest skater competitions and he isn’t a good setup guy, so it’s no great surprise he didn’t get Legare the puck. Again, he was okay.

Cam Lee (d)

A bright light in a sea of black-and-gold blah. Lee handled the puck with skill and aplomb, often skating it out of danger. He displayed a flair for offense (a team-high six shots on goal) and even took the body on a couple of occasions despite his undersized frame. He definitely didn’t look out of place.

Dominik Simon (rw)

He’s not my favorite player, not by a long shot. But in fairness to Simon I thought he played a decent game and made some things happen. None of which resulted in a goal, which seems to be his MO. But I thought he at least created some opportunities and was one of our more effective skaters.

Sam Poulin (lw)

Unlike his junior linemate Legare, Poulin received a couple of good setups from his linemates but wasn’t able to finish. He looked strong and reasonably assertive in the early going, then seemed to fade along with the team as the game went on. Although smooth and polished, would sure like to see him throw his weight around more.

Kasperi Kapanen (rw)

Rather than shoot the puck, Kasperi spent most of the evening trying to set up his linemates, Poulin in particular. Although his stat line was flat line (no shots on goal, no hits, minus-2) for the most part he looked crisp and sure as always.

Jordy Bellerive (c)

One of the few Pens to show any real emotion or spark, Bellerive displayed decent hop in limited ice time and engaged the enemy on at least a couple of occasions while dishing out three hits. Wish the rest of the team would’ve followed his lead.

Danton Heinen (lw)

Heinen made some nice plays defensively but didn’t show much at all in the attacking zone and wasn’t very noticeable. Hope this guy isn’t the second coming of Mark Jankowski.

Juuso Riikola-Mark Friedman (d)

I thought Riikola displayed good wheels and his passes were tape-to-tape. He skated himself into trouble on a couple of occasions and brain-cramped on at least one other. But overall, he and partner Mark Friedman were solid. I confess, I didn’t notice Friedman a whole lot, generally a plus for a defenseman.

Mike Sullivan and the coaching staff

I’m usually not as harsh on the coaches as my colleague, Other Rick, but this wasn’t their finest hour. The lineup they picked, for one. Justin Almeida? Jan Drozg? (A combined seven goals with the Baby Pens last season). C’mon. Dress guys who at least have a shot at making the team.

With his club sagging as the game went on, Sullivan made nary an adjustment. It would’ve made sense to me to team Poulin and Legare, linemates in junior, to see what they could do. Instead, Sully kept rolling out the same tepid combinations. By design or not, when we did gain the offensive zone we kept kicking the puck back to the points instead of working it down low between the circles. Perimeter city. As a general rule, you’re not going to score from 60 feet away. And we didn’t.

Needless to say, there’s plenty of room for improvement.