I was preparing to scrape together a quickie summary of the Penguins uber-impressive 5-1 drubbing of the Red Wings last night in the Motor City when an overarching thought occurred to me.
Almost against the odds and with little fanfare, has Pens GM/POHO Kyle Dubas assembled the makings of a hungry team? One that has something to prove?
Based on the results of the last two preseason games?
The answer would appear to be yes.
Missing the playoffs two years running obviously didn’t sit well with franchise pillars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. No doubt the three-time Cup champs are jonesing to make it back.
Then there are the players Dubas brought in. Anthony Beauvillier, Cody Glass, Matt Grzelcyk, Kevin Hayes, Blake Lizotte and to a lesser degree, Sebastian Aho, are all coming off down years. All have something to prove. To say nothing of players like Jesse Puljujärvi, Valtteri Puustinen and eternal prospect Sam Poulin, who are battling tooth and nail to earn spots.
I’ll include high-profile pickup Rutger McGroarty in the mix, too.
Toss in underachieving holdovers like Noel Acciari, Ryan Graves, Tristan Jarry, Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson, not to mention a coaching staff that’s taken its share of lumps?
You have the makings of an extremely motivated bunch. One that in some ways reminds me of the Golden Knights “Misfits” dynamic of a few seasons ago. Remember? A collection of castoffs—galvanized by the need to prove their worth and paced by ex-Pen Marc-Andre Fleury—banded together and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
While I’m certainly not predicting the same result for our current black-and-gold crop, we just might surprise some people and exceed expectations.
As for the game? Acciari struck for two third-period goals. Drew O’Connor and Lars Eller each tallied a goal and an assist. Vasily Ponomarev notched an empty-netter.
Rookie Joel Blomqvist came on in relief of an injured Alex Nedeljkovic just past the 13-minute mark and sparkled, stopping 20 of 21 shots.
According to reports, McGroarty (an assist, plus-2), Puljujärvi (an assist, plus-3), O’Connor and Aho (21:46 TOI) acquitted themselves extremely well.
The rejuvenated power play went one-for-three. And we scored a shorty to boot!
On the Move
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Hey Rick,
Really didn't have time to reply yesterday - dawn til dusk work.
Sorry, even before last nights pathos the holes in this Swiss Cheese are still very apparent. Smellivan lost his opening 2 gambits by putting his kids in a position to fail, sticking his legitimate prospects out there with a journeymen pylons.
In game 3 when they stomped Ottawa 5 -2, it was the same old song and dance (thank you Steven Tyler); only 2 EVG, the other 3 G were PP (2) and ENG (1), all 5 G were attributable to either Sid or Geno, and until the team stake him to a big lead, Jarry was very beatable.
In game 4, the Prospects with a little help from a couple of actual NHL calibre veterans like Lars Eller crushed Detroit 5 - 1.
Now last night Smellivan trotted out the Vets again and even though they out shot Detroit 44 - 19 found a way to lose 2 -1 with one of the big 3 still leading the way - Geno helping Rakell score. And Jarry, in mid - season form gives up 2 G on only 19 SOG because he doesn't have a big lead. In fact, just like last season he gave up the tying G barely a minute after Rakell gave him a lead.
I have said it too multiple times in person and I am repeating it here electronically, Rick, I do believe if our bozo of a coach would sprinkle some of his prospects in with the vets, this team could make it to the Division finals but odds are Smelly won't do it. (Like where has Broz been after a huge prospect tourney?)
Put one prospect on each line and bury Beaullivier, Hayes, Acciari, Jarry, and all of the other do-nothing veterans. That is unless you are gambling and trying to get a shot at McKenna