BLUEBERRY, Pa. – The penguins held their first full training game within the training camp squadron on Saturday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, and Team Black came out with a huge 7-0 victory over Team Gold.
The goals of the black team came from Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel (two)Justin Schultz, Kris Letang, and Sam Laffertyand Tristan Jarry won the laundering victory.
Crosby left the game early and did not return. There’s more on that here.
Here are my three scrimmage stars, and my other observations of the day:
3. Jake Guentzel
Guentzel had two goals of his own and at least one assist, preparing Lafferty for the final goal.
The speed of the Guentzel line with Crosby and Conor Sheary It was one of the most important things I noticed about this. Sheary talked about her line of work to develop chemistry during this camp, but it seems like a lot of that chemistry from the 2017 race is still there with the way they were preparing.
According to Guentzel, it felt good to return to the ice for the closest thing to game action in seven months,
“It feels great,” he said. “It’s been a while. You get so excited about these little intra-squad games, (even) when it doesn’t mean anything. Just for my situation, I think it’s good to get into a game-like situation. I really can’t wait to get into March “.
This being a complete scrimmage, this was the highest physicality we have seen in the entire camp. Guentzel said he has no fear of making contact.
“I feel good,” he said. “I’m just taking it all day and seeing where it goes, but from my point of view, I feel really good. I’m full of energy and ready to go. It’s been good to come back with the team here and get going.”
2. Sam Lafferty
Lafferty played as a man trying to earn a spot on the list.
Lafferty started the game on Team Gold’s wing, and was transferred to the front-line central role of Team Black after Crosby left the game. She played very fast, winning a breakaway and at least another partial breakaway where she was denied. He was eventually rewarded with a goal in the second half, ending a Guentzel feed.
Sheary spoke about Lafferty’s game later, noting how well Lafferty moves.
“Obviously it’s a great body,” said Sheary. “He moves really well for his size, he has that instinct for power. When he takes the puck out of the rush, it’s hard for defenders to hold it back or if he tries to cut like that, it’s hard to hold it that way too. He was impressed with it. He just I’ve been able to play a couple of games with him, but I’ve seen him a few times. “
I asked Mike Sullivan about Lafferty, and he spoke highly of the performance.
“I thought Sam was playing well,” he said. “He played hard. He brings what he brings. His speed is evident. He used it repeatedly. He has a strong game. He plays a power play. When he’s physical, when he’s strong with the discs and he’s using his speed to challenge to defenders or to force turnovers by shutting down defenders and hindering their outbreaks, those are the aspects of Sam’s game that he brings to our team game that I plan to make us a better team. I thought Sam played well. He made a Nice job on the penalty kick when he was there. The fact that he has the ability to play both in the center and on the wing, I think his versatility is an asset he has and also excellent for our team. a good game today. “
1. Tristan Jarry
Jarry has had a strong camp, and that continued today. The whole game looked good, and he had a couple of big saves, including breakaway stops at both Lafferty and Evan Rodrigues. There was never a time during the game when he seemed to be in danger of not saving him. I was locked up.
Jarry faced the weakest team, with Crosby and Malkin on his side. But Sullivan said after that that there’s nothing to read about which goalkeeper faced which skaters, noting that the reason Crosby and Malkin’s lines were on the same team was so they could easily execute the power play. situations with the right staff.
Sullivan added that both goalkeepers will be able to get into different situations and get the readings they need throughout the camp, which looks like Jarry could face Crosby and Malkin in future clashes.
Jarry’s performance was strong, regardless of the composition of the teams.
“There are NHL players on both sides,” said Sullivan.
MORE FROM SCRIMMAGE
• These were the teams and lines in the scrimmage:
Black (trained by Sullivan):
Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Conor Sheary
Jason Zucker – Evgeni Malkin – Bryan Rust
Brian Dumoulin – Kris Letang
Jack Johnson – Justin Schultz
Tristan Jarry
Gold (trained by Jacques Martin):
Patrick Marleau – Jared McCann – Evan Rodrigues
Zach Aston-Reese – Teddy Blueger – Brandon Tanev / Sam Lafferty
Marcus Pettersson – John Marino
Kevin Czuczman – Chad Ruhwedel
Matt Murray
• Crosby left early in the second half of the game and never came back. The teams are prohibited from revealing any kind of injury information during this time, but Sheary called it “a maintenance thing.”
• None of the nine players (Patric Hornqvist, Anthony Angello, Adam Johnson, Samuel Poulin, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Philip Varone, Sam Miletic, Juuso Riikola and Alex D’Orio) who were held outside the camp from day 1 due to possible secondary patina exposure today.
• Mark Recchi was the scrimmage line judge and skills coach Ty Hennes was the referee. The players seemed amused to see the two coaches in full dress.
Ty Hennes and Mark Recchi are the officials. #Pens #DKPS pic.twitter.com/PdHwsxBRcY
– Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) July 18, 2020
Sullivan had no complaints about arbitration on this.
“I thought they were on top of their own respective games,” he said. “They try to keep the play moving.”
• Wow, what a tough day for Murray. Four of the seven goals he allowed during scrimmage came in quick succession. Then after the Gold team’s great performance, Murray returned to the ice with Jared McCann and Patrick Marleau to work on escapes, and it almost hurt to see him let in the first four tries, and quite a few attempts after that.
• The last minutes of each scrimmage were special teams, with players who changed sides briefly.
• Malkin’s intensity in this was almost close to that of a real game. He was hitting the boys with his stick, getting in shape, arguing with the officers. His line also had a lot of speed.
• Rodrigues and his wife welcomed a new baby, their second child, shortly before training camp began. I asked him how he balances the excitement for the playoffs and the reality that after teams move into the bubble, it could be a while before players can see their families again.
“It will definitely be difficult, but in retrospect, when you take things in perspective, it is not the worst situation in the world,” said Rodrigues. “I’m going to do something I love and I’m going to try Win a Stanley Cup. Obviously I’m going to miss my newborn and my whole family, but there are sacrifices you must make in life, and this is one of them. Hopefully, when remember, it will be worth it. You can always take the positive side of things and look positive and that’s what I’m going to try to do. There’s always FaceTime and stuff. Obviously I’ll be able to talk and see my family. But like I said, You make sacrifices and look positively at things and at the end of the day, we are going to try to win a Stanley Cup, which is obviously the dream of all hockey players. “
• The penguins will return to the ice on Sunday at 10:30 am
• I briefly looked at the broadcast the team produced for this, and it was super impressive. There were various camera angles, the usual on-screen graphics and Josh Getzoff and Phil Bourque doing game by game and color commentary as if it were a real game. Two more of these scrimmages are in the Penguins’ camp schedule: Monday and Friday. A pretty good way for fans to get ready for real game action, too.
• Here is the full video of the scrimmage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94HVQV-zPEs
MORE FROM THE CAMP
• How will ice affect penguins?
• Sullivan: Power Play differentiator
• Inside Penguins Practice Playlist
• Kovacevic: Letang’s right to rave
• Kovacevic: Can McCann do the job?
• Breakdown of the series: the goalkeepers
• Breakdown of series: Defenders
• Breakdown of the series: the forwards
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