Penguins Bury Coyotes in Opener, 6-2

I’ll say this for our Penguins. They sure know how to open a season.

Last season, sans top guns Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, our boys throttled the defending Cup champion Lightning, 6-2. This year it was a similar story. Skating with an almost manic intensity, we buried the poor Arizona Coyotes like Rover’s bone in the back yard by an identical score.

Indeed, the black and gold opened the game as if shot from a cannon. Crosby ignited the pyrotechnics just 1:22 into the season, converting on a nifty backhand pass out of the corner from Jake Guentzel.

The next few minutes were a blur, as the Pens attacked the Coyotes with a controlled fury. Unable to keep pace, the visitors took a pair of penalties and our boys made ‘em pay.

At 4:12, Jason Zucker torched goalie Karel Vejmelka with a blistering drive from the top of the left circle, courtesy of a short feed from Danton Heinen and a perfectly timed screen by big Jeff Carter. Fifty-eight ticks later (too bad it wasn’t 59) Guentzel finished off a laser-like Malkin-to-Crosby-to-Bryan Rust passing sequence to run the score to 3-zip.

At this stage, it appeared the Pens might win by three touchdowns. But credit Vejmelka. Although under siege (he faced 53 shots in all) he stiffened to keep his team in the game.

The Coyotes clawed back at 16:10 of the second period on a power-play tally by Nick Ritchie, who banged the puck past Tristan Jarry off the left post. But the desert dogs couldn’t stay out of the penalty box and once more it cost ‘em, as Malkin slipped home a juicy rebound from the slot with 49 seconds left in the period.

Again, the Coyotes threatened to make a game of it. Again on a power-play goal by Ritchie, again courtesy of a penalty to Marcus Pettersson. The big forward cruised down the slot like a Mack truck rambling down a four-lane highway and made a nice feint before beating Jarry stick side. With over 15 minutes left to play and our foes gathering momentum, I confess it had the feel of one of those games where we’d fritter away a lead.

I’m happy to report that didn’t occur. Quite the opposite in fact. With five minutes to play, the Malkin line crashed the net en masse like a pack of junkyard dogs in search of table scraps. With Zucker planted on his fanny in the crease, Rust barged into the pig pile and somehow shoved the puck home to make it 5-2. A deliciously dirty goal that touched off a feverish 5-on-5 scrum.

The Pens “kapped” the scoring (yes, pun intended) with 2:23 left to play. Heinen and Kasperi Kapanen flew up ice on a 2-on-1. Heinen slipped a beautiful saucer pass onto the stick of “Kappy,” who snapped the biscuit through Vejmelka’s six-hole from in tight.

The perfect way to end a near-perfect night of hockey.

Puckpourri

We dominated statistically, putting 53 shots on goal to the ‘Yotes 28, including a staggering 23-shot second period barrage. Our boys also won 59 percent of the faceoffs (Malkin 79 percent!!!).

Crosby paced all scorers with three points (1+2) to earn first-star honors. Guentzel, Rust and Zucker each collected a goal and an assist. Heinen and Kris Letang had two assists apiece. Malkin and Kapanen (goals) and Carter, Petry and Pettersson (assists) each garnered a point.

Jarry made 26 saves, good for a .929 save percentage.

Impressions ‘n’ At

These aren’t your SOP (Same Old Pens). At least not the Smurfish bunch that bowed meekly to Montreal back in the 2020 postseason while putting on a clinic in perimeter hockey. Thanks to GM Ron Hextall’s moves over the summer, this team is more robust, especially on defense. “Biggerer” for a lack of a better word.

It showed in the way we played. The Coyotes are a physical team, yet we gave as good as we got. Indeed, our intensity and battle-readiness were on full display. Petry set the tone by planting Zack Kassian into the wall early in the contest. Letang reinforced the message with a booming check on scrappy Liam O’Brien early in the third period. Jarry engaged Ritchie, a tough customer, in a verbal sparring match after the big forward invaded his crease. Crosby and fellow Nova Scotian O’Brien became embroiled in a similar verbal tete-a-tete.

Our top three lines were wonderfully in sync. I was especially impressed with the Malkin-Zucker-Rust troika. I thought Zucker played arguably his best game in a Pens uniform. Twin demons on the forecheck, Zucker and Rust harried (and hurried) the ‘Yotes defense, which opened up tons of space for Geno. At first blush, this has the potential to be a lethal combination.

How great was it to see Kapanen score that goal? I’ll tell ya, if we can get him the puck in open ice…

My only concerns? The PK needs a lot of work and could be an Achilles heel. On both goals against, we left Ritchie virtually unchallenged in front of the net. Imagine the devastation if were Chris Kreider or Anders Lee.

I’m not sure about Pierre-Olivier Joseph on the third defensive pairing. More to the point, I’m just not sure he’s stout enough in our end. Time will tell.

But overall, a thoroughly entertaining effort and a terrific way to start the season.