Practice Session: Day 3

The First practice session featured the Black team

The team first worked on some 3-on-0’s to warm up the goalies

The next drill was all about the forwards catching the puck off the boards. This is a good drill for wingers. Janne Pesonen showed some acceleration in this drill

The next drill was very similar where the forward would catch a pass off the boards and go down the ice and pull-up and hit the trailer.

Defenseman Kris Letang looked good in this drill. He has improved his shot compared to last year and his release is quicker.

Jordan Staal was skating very well in today’s practice. He is shooting with confidence and has his head up the entire time. Last year he was shooting with his head down way too often and that‚Äôs what goalies want. What Staal needs to improve is catching a hard pass on his backhand

Paul Bissonnette played some D in a few drills. Mike Yeo was working with him on his positioning at forward near the end of the practice

Some notable plays from the 2-on-1 drill was Jeff Taffe taking a hard pass from Evgeni malkin and hitting the post.

Pierro-Zabotel looked very good in this drill. He made beautiful pass through an defenseman’s legs that hit Malkin in stride for a tap in goal.

Janne Pesonen is more of playmaker than a goal scorer. He doesn’t have a very hard shot. He did have a solid practice. Made some plays but right now he just seems like a practice player. It is early

One-on-One drill went to the defenseman. There were only about two occasions where a forward got the best of a defenseman. Those honors go to Evgeni Malkin against Kris Letang and Jeff Taffe against Joey Mormina

Near the end of the practice the Penguins worked on a fore-check drill with the main emphasis on their positioning. Keeping an forward high and such. Looks like the Penguins were running a 1-2-2.

The Final drill the Penguins worked on was a situation that started with a 3-on-1 that eventually led to a 3-on-2.

I came away very disappointed with Jonathan Filewich today. There just didn’t seem to be any fire in him. He’s on the outside to make this team and he didn’t do anything in practice to garner any more consideration. During the 3-on-2 drill he missed two point blank chances to bury the puck. A borderline player like him has to make things happen in practice. The way Tyler Kennedy practiced last year is the main reason he bypassed Stone and Filewich on the depth chart