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The Pittsburgh Penguins headed to Buffalo on Saturday for his or her preseason opener hoping to finest the Sabres and safe a win.
Sadly, Buffalo’s NHL-heavy roster was a bit an excessive amount of for a younger Pittsburgh lineup to deal with.
JJ Peterka recorded a hat trick for the Sabres en path to a 7-3 win, whereas all of Pittsburgh’s tallies got here off the stick of ahead Jesse Puljujarvi. Owen Energy, Henri Jokiharju, Sam Lafferty, and Dylan Cozens additionally scored for Buffalo.
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The Penguins, fielding a largely prospect-focused lineup, had been merely outmatched by a Buffalo workforce dressing most of its NHL regulars. The ultimate outcome is not a lot to put in writing residence about given the circumstances.
That mentioned, there have been nonetheless a couple of positives and negatives to drag from this recreation. Some postgame observations:
– Puljujarvi was actually the story tonight. Two days after I wrote {that a} roster spot wasn’t trying prefer it was sure to occur for him, he determined to place up two objectives within the Staff 1 v. Staff 3 scrimmage on Friday and a hat trick on Saturday.
It would be one factor if that is all he did tonight, even when spectacular by itself. However he was additionally engaged bodily, stood up for Vasily Ponomarev after Ponomarev was the sufferer of a borderline hit, and forechecked fairly nicely within the Penguins’ few offensive alternatives all through the sport.
He wanted a recreation like this. The primary few days of camp for Puljujarvi had been a blended bag, and he proved himself worthy of NHL roster consideration tonight. A powerful exhibiting from him.
– General, Rutger McGroarty’s efficiency was largely constructive. It is a bit troublesome to get a learn on gamers in these sorts of video games the place every little thing may be very lopsided, however he turned in some good forechecking work, performed nicely alongside the boards, and even made a couple of good stick performs within the defensive zone.
There have been some miscues as nicely, however general, an excellent night time from him.
Related: Penguins Training Camp: Notes from Day 3
– One other man who seemed fairly spectacular on this recreation was 2024 second-round choose Harrison Brunicke, who confirmed some flashes on the blue line for the Penguins. His skating was easy, he made some good performs, and his stickhandling was glorious.
The pattern dimension between the preseason and the Prospects Problem is small, however there’s a lot to love about Brunicke to date. He is actually a defensive prospect Penguins’ followers ought to be enthusiastic about.
– Somebody who did not have the perfect night time was Ryan Graves. Sadly, that is one thing many people have turn into too used to listening to, however he was, usually, a multitude positionally within the defensive zone and was on the ice for a number of objectives towards.
It is early within the preseason, and there’s nonetheless time for Graves to indicate one thing extra. The teaching workers has been usually completely satisfied along with his progress, so hopefully, that interprets into recreation motion.
– Ponomarev took a excessive hit alongside the boards by Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and he was gradual to rise up. He did get to the bench on his personal accord and return later.
Related: Penguins Training Camp: Notes from Day 2
One thing that was refreshing to see from the Penguins was the response. After the hit, Penguins’ gamers retaliated on a number of shifts. Defenseman Mac Hollowell acquired concerned. Graves acquired concerned. Puljujarvi and Tristan Broz acquired concerned.
It was good to see a few of that nastiness from the Penguins, particularly in response to a teammate getting the worst of successful.
– After a formidable exhibiting within the first interval, Joel Blomqvist had a tough second interval. There have been a couple of objectives from the purpose that he would most likely need again, and he was pulled in favor of Filip Larsson halfway by way of the second after permitting six objectives on 26 photographs.
Larsson performed fairly nicely for the rest of the sport, permitting only one objective to Dylan Cozens.
– Regardless of happening 6-1, the Penguins confirmed some struggle on the finish of this recreation. They did not exit quietly, scoring two extra objectives and staying engaged all through.
The Penguins will face Buffalo once more on Tuesday at PPG Paints Area. It can most likely be considerably of a reverse compared to tonight, because the Penguins are prone to costume extra NHL gamers and the Sabres are prone to costume some prospects on the street.
We’ll see if they will return the favor on Tuesday.
