PENGUINS 7 – HURRICANES 3
POST-GAME BUZZ & OBSERVATIONS
— Phil Kessel scored two goals in his preseason debut and while the competition was pretty low, the chemistry between Sidney Crosby and Kessel has been there from the first practice in camp and it was on display tonight in the preseason home opener just moments into their first shift together.
There’s often all this talk about Kessel’s speed and shot, but what really stands out from an offensive standpoint is his play away from the puck in how gets himself open and gets to the right spots.
“He hits holes off the puck really well,” Mike Johnston said of Kessel. “If Kunitz gets the puck or Sid gets the puck, they turn and Kessel is already hitting an open spot. It’s like a receiver at the right time hitting the hole and I just thought he was very good at that.”
— Mike Johnston tonight was happy with how Chris Kunitz fit on the line and called Kunitz one of the leading candidates at this point to start the year with Crosby and Kessel.
“What he [Chris Kunitz] has to add to that line or whoever plays there, Kunitz is probably one of the leading candidates right now….. I like Kunitz when he goes hard to the net, plays that straight ahead game,” Johnston said.
As mentioned before, what the Penguins are looking for in that top-line left spot is someone with straight line speed who goes to the net, why Pascal Dupuis will also get strong consideration, though, sources say management prefers to see Dupuis worked in a little slowly this season, starting in a bottom-6 role.
The pace through the neutral zone that Crosby and Kessel play with together was obvious and watching Kunitz have to bust his butt to keep up in the neutral zone tonight makes you wonder if Kunitz’ old legs (in hockey years) become an issue as the season progresses.
“I like Kuni’s jump,” Johnston said of Kunitz tonight. “I thought he had a lot of jump. Good legs, he’s had good legs all camp. It looks like he has a lot more energy. That’s a positive sign for him right now.”
— As for the left wing spot on Evgeni Malkin’s line, the thing to watch moving forward is whether there’s enough skill on the wings.
The Penguins are most dangerous when Malkin is putting the puck in the net at a 40+ goal clip.
Sergei Plotnikov did some good things tonight on Malkin’s wing. He protected the puck well down low and the skating looks stronger than anticipated so far.
What he’s not is a creative player who can get the puck to Malkin in prime scoring opportunities and at the end of the day, David Perron likely emerges as the best fit to give the Penguins a more complete line.
On Plotnikov the positive with him is he projects as someone the Penguins should be able to play all over.
“I thought he had a very good game,” Johnston said of Plotnikov’s first preseason game. “Thought he was physical, thought he went to open ice well. Big body guy. If he can play a give-and-go game, sometimes he hangs on to the puck in practice too much, but if he can play that give-and-go game, that’s when he’s most effective. He can skate, has some size, good puck protection. Where he can play in our lineup, he can play in a lot of spots.”
— The Penguins coaching staff wants more offense from the blueline this year and got it early tonight with Kris Letang and Olli Maatta scoring the first two goals of the game for the Penguins.
It was playing the Penguins system to perfection where both Letang and Maatta joined the play with great setups from Evgeni Malkin who had the primary assist on both goals.
— If you’re looking for an intriguing defensive pair it’s Ian Cole and Adam Clendening moving forward.
6. Sergei Gonchar scored a power play goal and showed excellent poise on the man-advantage. “Real good job on the power play. Gonch is a real good power play player. He moved the puck well. Good deception,” Mike Johnston said.
We knew coming in he could still play the power play some, it’s in his own end where the red flags are at this stage in his career. Gonchar didn’t do anything tonight to minimize those concerns.
Gonchar was on the ice for three goals against and was stuck in his own end for most of the night at 5 v 5. Gonchar’s analytics were rough tonight, on the ice for 8 shot attempts and 23 [hide] against at even strength. This was against a JV Hurricanes roster.
The more alarming performance was Gonchar’s d-partner Brian Dumoulin.
The Penguins have based a very small sampling on Duomoulin’s performance last spring in the playoffs that has him not just penciled in the projected top-3 pairs right now but some expectations in the organization of him [hide] starting on the second pair with Ian Cole.
The upside is not high with Dumoulin.
7. “Daniel Sprong on shooting for a nine game NHL tryout. “That’s the goal,” Sprong said. “I’m going to take it day by day and see what happens.”
With Eric Fehr set to start on long-term injured reserve, you never know but a while to go.
8. J.S. Dea was noticeable at times tonight. Carries the puck through the neutral zone with a lot of poise. Creative player. Like how he see’s the ice.
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Sprong> Rust/Sheary/Wilson
you guys think this happened because of sharp
http://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/836674
So Kunitz starts the year on the top line and Duper on the 3rd. By mid-season Kunitz will be skating like an old slow 3rd liner and Duper like he got his legs back. Easy flip flop for the coaches.
Seems like after the obvious two we have 4 potential top 6 wingers on this team – Peron Dupuis Kunitz and Bennet I believe has the chance to establish himself as a top 9 guy that can slide top 6.
Plotnikov is sounding like a good bottom 6 guy with some offense but not someone you want slowing down our big 2 lines
“skating looks stronger than anticipated”. They thought this guy was gonna skate like shit but were gonna plug him in on Genos wing anyway. Now they see it’s not the issue they thought it would be but we are still gonna write that possibility of a line off?
Trade Midget for a legit Top 4 dman.
Cmon D. Expand on some of your thoughts. Why are Cole & Clendening “intriguing”? Why was Dumoulin “alarming”? Why is his upside not high? What are Sprong’s roadblocks to a nine game tryout? Some background on Dea? Each of these could be an article on their own. I know I would (and I’m positive others would as well) enjoy seeing 3-4 articles a day on the Pens (doesn’t happen often), not just one incomplete one that leaves me more frustrated than satisfied. Ive been reading/paying since 2008 and I have to admit, you’re getting crushed by other pay sports talk… Read more »
I agree that it would be nice if D expanded on those points but anyone who watched the game should have seen the answers to your questions for themselves.
So if all of D’s observations were easily seen by those who watched the game, why does anyone need his non-insight? I can give anyone my blatantly obvious observations, do you want to pay me to read them? Just listing what you witnessed is subpar and downright lazy. I don’t need a recap, we’re paying for well thought out and factually based opinion. A point of view that makes us think (we can then decide for ourselves if we agree or disagree) and join in a healthy, respectful debate. (sarcasm intended – although it’s been a bit better since the… Read more »
sprong looked really good last night. how long before the pens destroy his confidence and make him the next beau bennett?
This comment makes about as much sense as your typical post, Sprong and Bennett are nothing alike so how Bennett was handled has zero impact on Sprong, Bennett was slowed by being rushed to the NHL before he was physically ready for that level of play, nothing more nothing less.
Game center live doesn’t cover any pre-season games. 🙁 Sounded like gonch and dumo were shit against the canes farm team.
Dumoulin will be fine. Hard to play defense without a partner.
That’s what I was going to say. Sure he needs to improve, but it’s kind of hard to be effective with a partner that should have retired a few years ago.
I don’t think Dumoulin’s performance last night had anything to do with his partner, I counted 7 missed coverages and multiple lost board battles through the 1st 2 periods. Hopefully for the teams sake either I’m wrong about his partner effecting his play or he just had an off night because what I saw last night shouldn’t warrant to roster spot let alone a role in the top 4.
I had a shitty feed so I didnt see it all but that is really troubling when you consider what the expectation from him was to start camp. Still too many questions on the blueline which might make moving Scuderi to open cap space to potentially fill the void more of a necessity
And that midget Gerbe blew him up. I was embarrassed for him.
Scuderi traded yet
Hopefully not because if last night was a typical Dumoulin performance, Scudder is going to be a better option in the top 6.
Too bad we couldn’t of kept harrington and gave away dumoulin
That said how did the new d guys look cled and the one from toronto