It’s late September, so you Know what that means? Yes, sadly it means our first exams are right around the corner… BUT it also means that it’s time for pre-season NHL hockey for the Pittsburgh penguins! Opening up the pre-season slate last night, the penguins fell to the Buffalo Sabres 3-2. That might seem bad, but let’s look at the takeaways from their matchup.
With Veteran super-stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang sitting, the Penguins used the empty roster space to play up-and-coming skill players such as Daniel Sprong, Will O’Neil, and Juuso Riikola. These men have under 3 NHL starts between them so it was a chance to show their worth and get some experience out on the NHL stage. Riikola and O’Neil recorded the Penguin’s only goals, both coming late in 3rdperiod of play. The offense was weak compared to the Penguins usual attack, but that is because of the fire-power Buffalo decided to play on their side of the ice compared to sitting their stars like the Pens did.
Jack Eichel, the young new face of the Sabres franchise, was playing along with this year’s first overall pick in the entry draft, Rasmus Dahlin. They dominated compared to the Penguins. Eichel with a year of NHL play now under his belt was calm and collected while showing Dahlin what to expect and teaching him how to utilize his skill in the big leagues. The Sabres scored early taking control of the game and held it, tallying 2 more scores as the game went on.
Image courtesy of post-gazette.com
The penguins also decided to play back-up goalie Casey DeSmith over starter Matt Muray last night, but he wasn’t to blame for the final score. DeSmith faced 29 shots and stood on his head most of the game as he played all 60 minutes. DeSmith, hoping to take the full back-up role over Tristian Jarry, made a strong statement last night by keeping the weakened Penguins roster within range to retake control score-wise. It will be interesting to see how his play continues as the pre-season goes on.
Image courtesy of pensburgh.com
What did we learn? The Penguins are full of young talent, that if matured in the minors correctly, will keep the penguins competitive after Crosby and Malkin retire. 3rdyear player Jake Guentzel rose up to a leadership role, wearing the assistant captain’s “A” on his jersey along with Olli Maata, as the regular wearers Malkin and Letang sat for last night’s game. They seemed to fill the role nicely and will one day hopefully fill those roles fulltime.
Though it was a loss, it’s pre-season. The games don’t really matter as they have no implications on regular season standings. But as explained above, these games give rookies the chance to prove their skill and fight for a coveted roster spot on the actual regular season and playoff team. It also gives returning players a chance to warm their bodies up for the speed and fatigue of playing NHL hockey.
Let’s see how the penguins respond to this loss as they take on the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday night in Detroit and will most likely play more of their NHL-ready players such as Crosby, Malkin, and starting Goalie Matt Murray.
I’ve found that pre-season is never a good way to analyze athletes. The top tier athletes hardly try in the pre-season and coaches typically just use it as a way to examine lower tier players and have their team run new sets. With basketball, there’s hardly a correlation between the pre-season and regular season (i don’t know if this is different for hockey).
I thoroughly enjoyed your post! I’ve always wanted to get into other sports besides basketball and you laid out a lot of names and descriptions of these players. Maybe by the end of the semester, I’ll have learned a few players and teams in the NHL.