Lineups
The Penguins bring out a lot of their big guns and mix in a bunch of players making preseason debuts in Bill Zonnon, Tomas Galvas with Markus and Liam Ruck getting in the lineup too.
Visiting Detroit brings a slightly better lineup tonight than Buffalo did last night, though it’s very much an early preseason road game type of roster.
First Period
Egor Chinakhov
went to the penalty box for tripping, the Pens not only kill it off they get a goal. Nick Robertson scores on his first shot in a Pittsburgh jersey, bursting around forward Theo Rochette, driving to the net and lifting it past John Gibson. 1-0 Pens early.
Robertson gets tripped and draws a power play. Crosby, Malkin, Chinakhov, Rakell are out there, Sam Girard fills in for Erik Karlsson (not playing).
They don’t score, the following shift the Red Wings do. Arturs Silovs makes a great save but the Pens’ defensive structure is broken down. Detroit regroups and passes it around and tie the game.
Shots were 12-8 PIT after one.
Second Period
Crosby and Marco Kasper get tied up and slash each other enough to both take penalties. While at 4v4 the Red Wings score twice. First, Arturs Silovs coughs up a bad rebound that Mason Appleton bulls through Tomas Galvas to knock into the net. 2-1 Red Wings. They add another on a broken play, Malkin only got a piece of a centering pass, throwing off the timing for a Red Wing to quickly hammer home.
The Pens’ first line turns up the heat with a long shift of pressure. Ilya Solovyov and Sam Girard are all over the puck too. Eventually Girard sends the puck down to the net for Rickard Rakell, the Swede spins and shoots it in to narrow Detroit’s lead to 3-2.
Shots through two are 24-14 PIT.
Third Period
Trey Augustine is in net for Detroit, Silovs remains in there for the Pens.
Rakell gets taken down and Pittsburgh gets their third power play of the night, which comes up empty for the third time.
More tempers flare, Carlile grabs a guy and drops the gloves and ends up with a double minor and 10 minute misconduct. Detroit scores on one of their power plays after Silovs leaves a rebound and Girard can’t clear it away. 4-2 game.
Kaeden Korczak gets on the board in his Pittsburgh debut, wristing in a long shot from the right side. 4-3.
Detroit re-establishes their two goal lead with a deflection goal. 5-3 with over 10 minutes to go.
More bad news, another huuuge rebound that’s kicked out and Chinakhov isn’t quick enough to get to it. 6-3.
The damage keeps coming, off an offensive zone faceoff for the Red Wings, they get a point shot through that hits Girard and flutters into the net. 7-3.
The Pens get one before time runs out. Pretty passing between the Rucks and Rutger McGroarty leads to an open net for the latter to score on. 7-4.
Some Thoughts
- It didn’t take Robertson long to flash. As we wrote this weekend, this addition could be a really big deal if the Pens can unlock his talent fully. In his size and quick skating, Robertson is reminiscent of a former Crosby winger in Conor Sheary from a decade ago. Unlike Sheary, whose hands often couldn’t keep up with his feet, Robertson has already demonstrated a higher degree of finishing ability – which was on display tonight. Gotta temper it a little bit but it’s hard to not see this as an exciting and encouraging possibility.
- It was probably a lesson that didn’t need to be taught though nice to see Declan Carlile get the memo and charge in after a whistle when a Red Wing got a stick up and was jousting with Crosby after the whistle. He was really mad! The ref had to do the old hug and drag away, with Carlile still trying to get after anyone in red. Small but nice to see.
- Tomas Galvas’ debut was unremarkable. He got caught on the ice for nearly a two minute shift on the first DRW goal, roving up in the zone at one point and unable to get possession back. Galvas got a lesson in NHL strength when the 6’2, 200 pound Mason Appleton drove through him to the net on the second DRW goal. Not the end of the world but doesn’t look particularly close to being an NHL regular at a first glance for preseason action.
- Atley Calvert has a bit of the ‘Avery Hayes condition’ in him and by that I mean the more you see, the more there is to like. Calvert looks bigger on the ice than the 6’1, 196 he’s listed at. He skates very well. He’s positionally solid and always in the right spot, good along the boards. He’s never going to win a scoring title but is just a good player. Calvert’s surely Wilkes-Barre bound in the near future but he’s showing enough to wonder if there’s something more down the line.
- Lowkey but it was smart to see the coaches stick with the Zonnon+Calvert partnership on a line tonight. The two played together extensively in the AHL playoff run last spring. That bit of familiarity had to help the 19-year old Zonnon in his first taste of NHL action. For his part, Zonnon was fine, though he too is clearly going to need a measure of time to grow his game and adapt to the pro speed.
- It’s kinda crazy to think this is the fourth decade of Malkin’s life (teens, 20s, 30s and now 40s) that he’s worn a Penguin jersey. Quiet night for the elder statesman, though at one point he was backchecking hard and battling to successfully lift an opponent’s stick and win the puck back. Observing Malkin as long as we all have, seeing a high level of engagement is always a positive indicator of where his form is at.
- The Ruck boys too in their first glimpse of NHL action, only getting a handful of shifts from the fourth line but made the most of it, Liam (the first round pick) grabbing two assists and Markus making a really nice play late to add one. Great to see them with Mikhail Ilyin, hopefully in about five years that could be a future NHL line if all the cards come together right. Long way between there and here, of course, just an idle September dream for what could be one day.
- Not a very inspiring performance in net from Silovs, but then again the stakes couldn’t be lower. Seven goals on 23 shots is what it is. Besides the sheer quantity of allowing seven goals in a game, the only major problem I had was seeing the costly rebound on three of those goals- all too common a sight last season when his game wasn’t sharp. No need to stew or analyze it too much besides hoping to see him tighten up before next week.
- Really liked what we saw out of Solovyov tonight. His moonlighting tonight in Karlsson’s spot suggests Solovyov is in-line to be the seventh defenseman, at least for the moment, and he played really well. Three shots on goal (always forget how active he is in the offensive zone). Two hits, a blocked shot and an assist (ironically he was more influential in the play where he DIDN’T get an assist officially). Solovyov doesn’t do anything great but he does a lot to a nice degree.
The best thing about any preseason game is when it’s over and now this one is in the history books. The Pens will bring a team on the road to play in Columbus on Thursday for their next one.
