Penguins Update: Where Have You Gone Tom Sestito?

Readers beware. I’m about to hijack a nugget from an article posted on Pittsburgh Hockey Now and a line from the song Mrs. Robinson and use them for my own nefarious purposes.

As an aside to his piece about NHL training staffs allegedly supplying pills to players, Dan Kingerski shared that Sidney Crosby presented former Penguins heavyweight Tom Sestito with a signed hockey stick upon the birth of his son, Killian, which read “I felt a foot taller with your Dad in the lineup.”

I mean, could there be a stronger testimony to the value of having a tough guy in the lineup? After all, we’re not talking about just any player making this statement. It’s Crosby.

I’ll go one further. Flash back with me, if you will, to the night of Thursday, October 13, 2016. The place…newly rechristened PPG Paints Arena. Our defending Cup champs were squaring off in the season opener against blood rival Washington, who we ousted in a hotly contested series the previous spring.

Bad blood lingered, especially on the part of the locals. You see, the Capitals’ young hitman, Tom Wilson, had brutally taken out Conor Sheary’s leg with one of the vilest cheap shots I’ve ever witnessed. The diminutive winger nearly cartwheeled into Brian Dumoulin, narrowly missing the worst kind of two-fer imaginable. Miraculously, neither was seriously hurt. But the incident stuck in the Pens’ collective craw.

Back to the opener. During a stop in play near the nine-minute mark, tempers flared as the Caps’ Jay Beagle banged into Evgeni Malkin and roughed up Phil Kessel behind the net to ignite a scrum. As Wilson circled out of the corner he was intercepted by a hulking presence in black and gold wearing No. 25.

Sestito.

Following a brief exchange of pleasantries in front of the Caps’ bench, they dropped the gloves. As the combatants drifted toward center ice, Sestito freed his right hand and began waving to the crowd in animated fashion. Then he got down to business, pumping rights at Wilson in over-and-under fashion before switching to his left. By my count, eight punches in all. Outgunned, the Caps’ baddie could only respond with a couple of muted rights that fell short of the mark.

Wilson doesn’t lose too many. He lost this one.

The SRO crowd went nuts; the players on the Pens’ bench banged their sticks against the boards in appreciation as Sestito glided toward the penalty box.

Message sent.

Wilson finished the game with no hits, no shots on goal…no nothing (except maybe a fat lip)…in just over five minutes of action. Oh, the Pens prevailed, 3-2, in a shootout.

I, for one, loved the way Sestito went about his business. He wasn’t the best fighter in the league, but he was fearless and didn’t screw around. He went straight at foes. Mess with one of his teammates? Big Tom was sure to come a callin’.

For the record, the Rome, New York native had one more signature fight that season. March 8, 2017, in Winnipeg. The Jets made it clear they were going to “get” Malkin in retribution for a borderline hit “Geno” put on Blake Wheeler three weeks earlier in the ‘Burgh.

The Pens wisely dressed Sestito.

After challenging Dustin Byfuglien early, he traded punches with Chris Thorburn at the 3:35 mark in a long and grueling scrap. The Jets’ terror tactics diffused, Malkin scored two goals. We won, 7-4.

Of course, you know where I’m heading with this. Yes, another harangue about why the Pens don’t value toughness. Or more specifically, why Mike Sullivan doesn’t. Especially in light of Sid’s statement. Not to mention the fact that we won 66.6 percent of our games in 2020-21 when we fought as opposed to 58.3 when we didn’t.

Seems to me you’d want the guys on your team playing a foot taller. Especially in a division that now features such heavies as Ryan Reaves and Jarred Tinordi (Rangers), Zdeno Chara and Matt Martin (Islanders), Rasmus Ristolainen (Flyers) and Dylan McIlrath and the aforementioned Wilson (Capitals).

For those of us who prefer a team with push back, there may be a glimmer of hope. Although it isn’t a done deal, Brian Boyle appears to be earning a spot. Anthony Angello’s in the mix as well. Neither is a true heavyweight. But it’s a start.

In the meantime…”Where have you gone, Tom Sestito?”