The Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2-1 at the six game mark. 

What are the Takeaways through Six Games?

With four games in six nights, the adrenaline rush of the first two games wore off quickly this past week. Suddenly the Penguins looked old, slow and feeble on the backend that saw three straight losses against the Jets, Capitals and Blue Jackets before a 2-1 shootout win over the Dallas Stars Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena. 

The ability to get three out of four points, though, this weekend just feels like a situation where Pittsburgh prevented a situation of the wheels falling off.  That’s how bad Pittsburgh had looked against the Jets, Capitals and Blue Jackets. And it’s a leadership group who believes based off the off-season and lack of aggressiveness, the front office just salivating at the opportunity to blow the roster up. Buzz inside the Penguins room is a feeling of mid-season 23/24 where contention for a wildcard spot will not be enough for Kyle Dubas to balk at trading To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

The Hurricanes and Capitals are going to be on a different level than the rest of the division. Pittsburgh got a good glimpse of that Wednesday Night. Management expected that coming into the season, they were aware back in May the Capitals were going to be big game hunting. Despite all the big splash talk, Pittsburgh executed a no risk off-season. It’s a wait and see what happens type of mode…….

There were arguments to made coming into the season where you wouldn’t be surprised if the Penguins finish third in the division or last. This season could go either way and the first six games have showed several glimpses of both sides going in that direction. Well maybe not last with the Flyers absolutely crumbling to start the season with seven straight losses. Many expected it to be a Flyers season of likely one step back before another step forward, but fire Rick Tocchet chants seven games in? It is Philadelphia after all.

As alarming as the Penguins play has been since the third period of regular season game #2 let’s look at Saturday’s win as a blueprint for what the team did very well last season:

Pittsburgh drove offense: +11 in Scoring Chances 5 vs 5 and +7 in High Danger Chances:

The establishment of the Dewar-Lizotte-Robertson line | Pittsburgh was so effective last season because they could run four lines and they operated as if they had two-third lines. It wasn’t surprising the Penguins looked more like last year’s team Saturday night when their 4th line was humming all night. Aggressive on pucks, attacking the Stars with pressure at every opportunity and producing the lone Penguins goal in regulation with a Connor Dewar goal as the Stars gave him too much time and space. This is a line you can certainly picture building a 4th line around.

Big Boy Line | The Penguins going into the season wanting to space their lineup out is cute but why delay the inevitable. Going up against a star studded lineup like Dallas has, you have to a big boy line to match up against these type of clubs. Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell remain scoreless and are off to bad starts offensively, though, Rakell’s play away from the puck has been excellent, but a Rakell-Crosby-Rust line just forces the opposition to put their top pairings against the Crosby line and it continues to open favorable matchups for Pittsburgh’s second line of Egor Chinakhov-Tommy Novak-Evgeni Malkin. That played out Saturday night. Tommy Novak is never going to be regarded as an ideal No. 2 center on most clubs but is there a better fit than him with this Penguins coaching staff and system? His ability to wait for plays to develop and command with the puck conitnues to be make him one of Pittsburgh most creative players night in and night out. There’s a reason Novak was the most sought out player in [hide] trade talks this summer before Pittsburgh took him off the market. Washington in particular made a To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

MORE BUZZ

Ben Kindel’s progression has been impressive and you see the coaching staff handling things well. He’s getting top power play minutes, first out for shootout, ect. The question in the organization is finding the right mix around him on the third line. Elmer Soderblom brought a needed dimension back to the lineup Saturday night in that matchup with his size/strength along the wall. Is he the right fit, though, around Kindel as Kindel has the makings of being able to lead a skilled third line. It’s just up for debate if Pittsburgh has the right mix on the roster. Dewar-Lizotte-Robertson deserves a long look, there’s just not an ideal young skilled winger to pair Kindel with right now. In a perfect world management would love for Ville Koivunen to be that play… Justin Brazaeu’s spot on the roster has been really tedious. If he was healthy, though, one expectation in the organization was giving a run of Kuzemenko-Kindel-Brazeau……..Four training camp standouts were Filip Hallander, Elmer Soderblom, Owen Pickering and Ilya Solovnov. Hallander traded to Edmonton; Soderblom In-and-Out of Lineup; Owen Pickering in AHL and Ilya Solovnov waived……..To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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