Penguins beat Senators in ‘Hockeyville’ pre-season showdown

What a night it was for Elliot Lake, for youth hockey and for the big guns in Pittsburgh.

Evgeni Malkin scored a hat trick and Sidney Crosby added two goals, as the Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 in the annual Kraft “Hockeyville” preseason showdown in Sudbury, Ontario This year.

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The Senators were the better team early and took a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. But the Penguins took over in the second period, scoring four unanswered goals to close out the game.

Goaltender Filip Larsson relieved Tristan Jarry midway through the second period and stopped every Senators shot he faced.

Here are some thoughts, notes and observations from tonight’s game.

– Blake Lizotte left the match in the first minutes of the first period and did not return. The Penguins announced midgame that he suffered an upper-body injury.

He was scheduled to play alongside Malkin and Rickard Rakell, and Michael Bunting joined that line in his absence.

Hopefully holding him back was a precautionary measure and nothing more. Otherwise, the advanced battle for roster spots could become much more interesting during training camp.

– He is only 18 years old and is probably heading to junior hockey. But Harrison Brunicke could quietly earn a nine-game tryout with this team.

Brunicke was paired alongside Marcus Pettersson in this match. He had a rough time on Ottawa’s first goal, looking a little disjointed and finding himself out of position.

But after that, Brunicke was blocked. He overworked himself a few times, but showed great vision and threw a few nice breakaway passes, made a solid play to help prevent a breakaway in the third, and got the puck through traffic and to the net several times in the offensive zone.

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As I mentionedErik Karlsson’s injury situation will be interesting to watch. If Karlsson isn’t ready to go, it’s not out of the question that Brunicke gets those nine games. And – honestly – he earned it in training camp.

He’s been great and looks like he has a place playing against NHL competition.

– Owen Pickering was also good in this match. He made some good plays defensively, even a few times in recovery for overcommitting.

But I think where Pickering really stands out is in the offensive zone. He just seems comfortable on the blue line when the Penguins are using the puck, and – like Brunicke – he didn’t look at all out of place against NHL talent.

He had a bit of a shaky start to camp, but he really started to round out his game in a meaningful way as the preseason progressed.

– It’s early, and this is the first time the first unit has participated in real in-game action. But the power play scored two goals tonight.

Both goals were a bit choppy and the Penguins didn’t maintain a ton of possession in the offensive zone. But it appears – at least initially – that there is a bit more puck and foot movement on the power play than last season.

We’ll see how things go throughout the rest of camp and the season, but if this continues, it can only be a good thing for the Penguins.

– Malkin’s line spent much of the first period and some changes in the defensive zone, and you could tell they were shaking off some rust throughout the game. But they looked better and better as the game progressed.

It was the Penguins’ best line tonight. Malkin recorded a hat trick. Rakell hit the iron in the third on a nasty wrist shot and had several good looks in this match. Bunting did his usual business below the goal line and in front of the net.

This could be a very good line for the Penguins this season.

– I like Anthony Beauvillier on Crosby’s line. He’s a good forechecker, he has some speed and he has very good instincts in the offensive zone.

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It’s more than likely that Drew O’Connor will start the season alongside Crosby and Bryan Rust. But I think that left winger position will be a merry-go-round for much of the season, and Beauvillier has shown he is fully capable of being a useful player alongside the 87.

– Jarry looked a little fragile in this match, especially in the first half. But it’s only preseason, and he seemed to settle down a bit in the second half before being relieved by Larsson.

Larsson, however, was blocked. He stopped every Senators shot he faced and survived some pretty heavy pressure from the Senators late in the second and third.

I think he’ll end up being Blomqvist’s backup in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and that prospect Sergei Murashov will likely start games in Wheeling.

– Cody Glass almost scored a shorthanded goal today, and he was noticed all night. His skating is a big improvement over most of what the Penguins have experienced over the last two seasons in the bottom six, and he puts himself in an excellent position to create scoring chances and make plays in the offensive zone.

Glass didn’t have an overly impressive start to camp, but like Jesse Puljujarvi, he really started to stand out as the preseason progressed.

It’s going to be interesting to see who on the NHL roster ends up in the press box, because right now, I don’t think there’s a clear answer.

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– Matt Grzelcyk made a nice play to prevent a two-on-one during the four-on-four in the third period. He beat the two senators to the loose puck on the boards and pushed it out of danger, towards the senators’ zone.

Overall, I like what I’ve seen from Grzeclyk so far. It’s obvious he’ll need some time to adjust to the Penguins system, but he and Letang seem to be working pretty well together so far.

– This game has become a little disjointed.

Defenseman Dan Renouf got involved with Senators captain Brady Tkachuk in the second period. Then, in the third, Sam Poulin hit Tim Stutzle and later caught Zack MacEwen while Boko Imama and Jan Jenik fought.

It’s not the kind of thing you typically witness in a preseason game, but there was a lot of pride involved in this game.

– On that note, what a cool event “Hockeyville” is. It’s great for youth hockey, the players love it and it brings together a whole community who can see the best of the sport played on their hometown rink.

I hope the NHL continues to do this for many years to come. The energy around it all is awesome.

– Following the travel debacle that postponed Saturday’s game against Detroit, the Penguins will play five preseason games in six days, including the make-up game at Detroit on Monday.

That’s a lot of matches in a short time. Initially, reductions were likely expected at the start of the week. However, the Penguins will need more personnel to cover the schedule this week, so I don’t expect any significant cuts before the end of training camp.

So keep a close eye on this week’s matches. Some guys still have time to stand out and, in return, make roster decisions more difficult for the organization.

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