Penguins Defeat Senators in ‘Hockeyville’ Preseason Showdown

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

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

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The Senators were the better team in the earlygoing, and they took a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. But the Penguins took over during 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 game in the very early minutes of the first period and did not return. It was announced by the Penguins mid-game that he sustained an upper-body injury.

He was slated to play alongside Malkin and Rickard Rakell, and Michael Bunting bumped up to that line in his absence.

Hopefully, holding him out was a precautionary thing and nothing more. If not, the forward battle for roster spots could get a whole lot more interesting down the stretch run in training camp.

– He is only 18 years old and, presumably, headed for junior hockey. But Harrison Brunicke may quietly be earning himself a nine-game trial run with this team.

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

But after that, Brunicke was locked in. He overcommitted a few times, but he displayed great vision and sprung a few nice breakout 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’ve mentioned, Erik Karlsson’s injury situation will be an interesting one to watch. If Karlsson isn’t ready to go, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Brunicke gets those nine games. And – honestly – he’s earned it in training camp.

He’s been terrific, and he looks like he belongs playing against NHL competition.

– Owen Pickering was also good in this game. He made a few nice 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 looks comfortable manning the blue line when the Penguins are cycling the puck, and – like Brunicke – he didn’t look out of place at all against NHL talent.

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

– It is early, and this is the first time the first unit has seen actual in-game action. But the power play did register two goals tonight.

Both goals were a little chippy, and the Penguins didn’t maintain a ton of possession in the offensive zone. But it does look like – at least, in the early stages – that there is a bit more puck and foot movement on the power play than there was last season.

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

– Malkin’s line spent a lot of the first period and some change in the defensive zone, and you could tell they were shaking off some rust throughout the game. But they looked better as the game went on.

This was the Penguins’ best line tonight. Malkin recorded a hat trick. Rakell hit iron in the third off a wicked wrister and had several good looks in this game. Bunting did his usual business below the goal line and at the net front.

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 pretty good instincts in the offensive zone.

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More than likely, Drew O’Connor will begin the season alongside Crosby and Bryan Rust. But I think that left wing position will be a carousel for a lot of the season, and Beauvillier has shown he is perfectly capable of being a serviceable player next to 87.

– Jarry looked a little shaky in this game, especially in the first period. But it is only the preseason, and he seemed to settle down a bit in the second before he was relieved by Larsson.

Larsson, however, was locked in. He stopped every Senators’ shot he faced and survived pretty heavy pressure by the Sens at the end of both the second and the third.

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

– Cody Glass almost scored a shorthanded goal today, and he was noticeable all night long. His skating is a vast improvement over most of what the Penguins have had the past couple of seasons in the bottom-six, and he puts himself in great 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 has really started to stand out more as the preseason has 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 both Senators to the loose puck on the boards and poked it out of danger, back toward the Senators’ zone.

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

– This game got a little bit scrappy.

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, got caught up with Zack MacEwen while Boko Imama and Jan Jenik fought.

This isn’t the kind of stuff one typically witnesses in a preseason matchup, 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 an entire community that gets to witness the very best in the sport play at their hometown rink.

I hope the NHL continues to do this for many years. The energy around the whole thing is awesome.

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

That’s a lot of games in a short period of time. Initially, cuts were probably expected at the beginning of the week. However, the Penguins will need more bodies to cover the schedule this week, so I don’t expect any large cuts until the end of training camp.

Therefore, keep a sharp eye on the games this week. Some guys still have time to make themselves stand out and, in turn, make roster decisions harder for the organization.

Related: Penguins Training Camp Day 6: A Tale of Two Teams, Roster Cut to 52