Thursday night’s thoughts on the penguin game

Some thoughts on tonight’s simulated game day for Penguins:

—This game was a bit different as the Pens have a higher player accolade, giving each of the divided squads a third line now that the players have been removed from their absence related to greedy exposure. And, for the first time, the teams are also much more balanced.

—The first period ended with the teams exchanging three goals in the order of Black, Gold, Black. The game was incredibly smooth, with very few stops and lots of skating and a game from start to finish.

Jared McCann opened the scoring for Black when Patric Hornqvist snatched a record from Jack Johnson in the corner (imagine). McCann received the puck in a dangerous spot right in front of the net and used quick hands to beat Tristan Jarry to make it 1-0.

A goal quickly spawned a second goal, Adam Johnson started a strong first period by running down the left wing and throwing a beautiful sack pass to the right by Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin. The pass fell perfectly for Anthony Angello, who had cut behind Dumoulin and was able to put it in for Matt Murray. Very good game for reservations.

The Black team regained the lead when Jarry pulled himself out of position to try to play a puck behind the net that Bryan Rust finished first when the puck stopped near the keeper’s trapeze. Rust wrapped himself up and found Jason Zucker with a pass, and Zucker very well recovered a pass on his skates and was able to keep cornering and receiving a faster shot from an out of place Jarry who was still recovering on the net.

“The younger boys looked very early.” A. Johnson showed his speed and was one of the best notable players in the first (not unlike Sam Lafferty and Evan Rodrigues and Conor Sheary in previous games). Hosting a same team camping game is perfect for players who are struggling and have some wheels to power and stand out, and we saw it again.

“I think Zucker has more goals at the moment than his linemates at Rust and Evgeni Malkin at camp. He is a very fast player who covers a lot of ice (see previous point) but always seems to be in the right place at the right time, and has the ability to convert. He seems to be adjusting very well to what could and should be a very powerful line for Pittsburgh.

“Nice to have a look at Samuel Poulin and Pierre-Olivier Joseph for the first time in a long time.” Since each team had five defenders, there was a small rotation and Joseph seemed calm and collected with the puck playing a turn with Kris Letang.

—In the second period, the third line of the Gold Team (A Johnson – Lafferty – Angello) is making its way with the third line of the Black Team (Poulin – Varone – Miletic), controlling the zone play during most of the turn . But then Poulin got a break when a wandering disk left the area, Poulin can’t solve the disk for a while, and when he does, he’s tight and only shoots Jarry.

—The Gold team scores to tie the game at 2. Murray does a stick test, but Letang can’t clear the puck and goes straight to Teddy Blueger. Blueger shuffles the disc while Murray attempts another smelling check.

—Gold almost got another, A. Johnson makes another great center pass for Angello, who is shot from the blank distance that Murray stops.

‘The confrontations are interesting. The Malkin line is playing the Blueger line a lot. The Jake Guentzel line appears to be drawing the McCann line. And then the third-line depth players from both teams go against each other. Not much of Malkin’s power against Guentzel in power, plus the offensive line versus a check line.

—Team Gold takes its first advantage. Chad Ruhwedel cannot handle a bouncing disk and hands it over to Guentzel. Guentzel basically has a 2 on 1 and feeds Sheary through Juuso Riikola’s defense. Sheary quickly unloads the last shot Murray, game 3-2.

—Later in the second, Patrick Marleau finds a way to tie the game for Black Team (like the last game!). He picks up the loose puck from a wandering shot behind the net and pulls it away from Kevin Czuzcman and hits Jarry on the post. 3-3.

—Malkin making bad passes / losing the record and then shouting unintelligible sounds of disgust at himself (and possibly others!) Is one of the greatest delights of the empty arena situation.

—Marleau talks to Jack Johnson (laughs) and is alone, but Jarry rescues his defense. Nice move from Marleau, but by God, that’s the Jack we know and don’t love!

—Then, at the other extreme, Adam Johnson (called the good guy) takes the disc from Miletic and generates another goal opportunity for him, but Murray gets his glove on the shot.

—Marleau and Hornqvist work and give, and Jarry shoots Hornqvist, but not the post since no goal is found there with the game being late.

The game ends in a draw and the team moves on to some special teams that work as scheduled.

“The higher power game is as expected.” Hornqvist joins Letang, Guentzel, Malkin, and McCann. This group scores after a good entry into the area separates the penalty kick and Malkin makes a cross pass for McCann. McCann twists him with some traffic in front of Murray’s corner of the net.

—John Marino and Justin Schultz are playing the points for the second power play group with Zucker, Sheary and Bryan Rust up front. They also score on their first turn, on a broken play, with Schultz finishing on the back post, finding a disc bouncing and hitting him against Jarry at the other end of the ice.

—Both PKs endure a few exercises but then the second group scores a final goal. Marino throws a point, Zucker and Rust crash into the net, Rust finds the puck and buries Jarry as a final shot. Then the team gathers in the center of the ice and begins to stretch.

Players and things that stood out for good reasons:

-Adam Johnson – Sam Lafferty – Anthony Angello line, high energy and seemed hungrier than most. Not much to read here, they are just depth players who were motivated to play well against other depth players.

-Jason Zucker looked very good. Smart player, good wheels, good hands, he has the vision and the ability to make plays. He is really complete and seems to be able to do everything at a high level.

-Bounce disc. Ice looked bad, a bunch of sloppy gameplay created by a non-cooperative disc that was a factor for everyone throughout the game. This was not really a good reason, but it deserved a mention.

Answering our questions

From before the scrimmage I had three main questions / points of interest. They were answered to various degrees:

# 1: Captain sighting?

-Answer: no. Sidney Crosby did not participate. If this were next week’s exhibition game against Philadelphia, it would be Panic Levels 8/10. As of now, there is not much to worry about.

# 2: All eyes on goalkeepers … as always

-Answer: ehh, not much to read given the game. Very open, heavy skating game. Players are starting to use sticks to block shot attempts, but overall many of the goals were the direct result of a defender who was wrong (Dumoulin allowed a pass to Angello, Jack Johnson was Jack Johnson, Ruhwedel threw the puck into Guentzel, etc.) Jarry was unlucky to play the puck only to see him die close to a foot before he could play it.

Other than that, both goalkeepers were pretty good. Murray defended himself quite well from the higher power game.

# 3: first chance for the third line

-Answer: It was a good day. McCann was shocking. Hornqvist and Marleau were fine, Marleau is not always the prettiest or most notable in this environment and at her age, but then you look up and see that she is marked. Hornqvist, as expected, showed energy and enthusiasm with the team. It was an encouraging first game for those guys, especially since they had to go head to head against Guentzel / Sheary for much of the night.

One more practice game on Saturday afternoon before the Pens leave for Toronto.