Everybody around the city circled October 10 on their calendars. The start of a new season on 5th Avenue plus the buzz and feeling around this team was different than previous years. With all this hype and excitement, it was a sell-out in PPG Paints Arena as fans came to see the boys back in action against rookie sensation Connor Bedard and the young and upcoming Chicago Blackhawks. The team that blew the Penguins’ chances to make the playoffs for the 17th time in a row last season was the Blackhawks, and they had their chance to get back at them right at the start of the season.
With it being the home opener, players and coaches were both announced to the crowd. When Erik Karlsson’s name was announced the crowd got loud, but for the Big Three the crowd went bonkers. As Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are playing their 18th season together, they now surpass New York legends Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada for the longest-tenured trio in North American sports.
The game featured eight Penguins making their debut. The opening faceoff was an iconic one between Sidney Crosby and the new kid Connor Bedard, where the veteran won the opening draw. The players were feeding off the fans as the game started off physical and fast. Although it was a fast start, new Penguin Lars Eller was given out an interference penalty which gave the Blackhawks the first power play of the game. The boys killed off the penalty and, shortly after, Byran Rust scored the first goal of the season on Petr Mrazek thanks to a beautiful deflection from Kris Letang. As Tristan Jarry made some big saves to close out the first, the Pens went into the second up 1-0.
Midway through the second, captain Sidney Crosby got his first goal of the year on a yawning net as Jake Guentzel found his best friend on the other side of the ice to pick up the primary assist. If you would have told me this would be it for the Pens in the scoring department, I would have said you were crazy, but the young Blackhawks battled through some adversity and pushed back against the veterans.
Goaltender Tristan Jarry looked great throughout the game, but, as I mentioned, there were eight players making their debuts on a new team and new system. This caused some missed defensive assignments and sloppy play that lead to the Blackhawks scoring four unanswered goals. The Blackhawks’ goal scorers were Ryan Donato, Cole Guttman and Jason Dickinson. They all scored near the net, which made it hard on Jarry. The fourth goal was on an empty net by Nick Foligno. Most notably, defensemen Marcus Pettersson and Ryan Graves were caught sleeping in front of the net, leading to a pair of Blackhawks goals. This led to another blown lead for the Pens–a huge problem last year–and they suffered yet another loss to the Blackhawks 4-2 to open up the season.
It would be foolish to not mention how good Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek was as he finished the game with a 9.51 save percentage and a total of 39 saves on 41 shots.
Looking at special teams in this game, starting on the positive side as the new look penalty kill went 4/4 as they were hard on pucks even though they did have some unlucky bounces trying to clear the puck. As for the explosive power play, they went 0/2 as Coach Sullivan deployed Erik Karlsson, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Rickard Rakell and Jake Guentzel. It was strange not seeing Kris Letang on the first powerplay unit, but if they can’t find their way early in the season it would not be shocking to see him back on the first unit. The powerplay didn’t look the best as they are still getting familiar with Karlsson as the quarterback.The Penguins were able to bounce back in the best way possible as they traveled to Washington D.C. to face their longtime rivals, the Washington Capitals.
The Capitals were playing in their first game this season, but it was also the first game for the Caps new head Coach Spencer Carbury. Carbury is also the youngest head coach in the NHL.
Some early pressure from the Capitals made it seem like they may take the lead in the first period, but that didn’t end up being the case as the game remained scoreless through the first 20 minutes, thanks in part to the Penguins’ strong penalty kill.
The Penguins came out for the second period much stronger and had a lot of zone time in the first four minutes of the period. Notably, the bottom six forwards held the puck in the zone for a great deal of that time, eventually giving the Pens an offensive zone faceoff that would lead to a goal from Evgeni Malkin. Malkin won the draw against Caps forward Nicklas Backstrom, and the puck was narrowly held in by Pens defenseman Erik Karlsson. Karlsson got the puck to Rickard Rakell who passed it to a wide open Malkin for his first goal of the season.
About a minute later, Capitals defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk took a penalty, giving the Penguins their first powerplay of the night.
The first powerplay unit looked much stronger than they did against Chicago. Sidney Crosby got the team’s first powerplay goal of the season on assists from Jake Guentzel and Malkin, which extended the Penguins’ lead to 2-0 over the Caps.
At 9:14 in the second period, the Penguins went back on the powerplay and Crosby got his second goal of the game, once again being assisted by Malkin and Guentzel. The Pens would head into the final frame with a 3-0 lead.
The Capitals were shut down by the Penguins in the third period as they were held to only four shots in the period. With about three minutes left in the game, Malkin made a long stretch pass to Reilly Smith who made it 4-0 Penguins, and that would go on to be the game’s final score.
Evgeni Malkin shined in this game, as he ended with a total of four points on the evening, contributing to each of the Penguin’s goals.
Pens goalie Tristan Jarry posted his 14th career shutout with a 19 save performance. The shutout marked the first time the Capitals had ever been shutout in a home opener. Jarry’s win also moved him into sole possession of third place among the Penguin’s all time leading goalies in wins. With 118 wins, Jarry only trails Tom Barrasso (226) and Marc-Andre Fleury (375).
The Penguins closed out their first week with a 5-2 victory over the Calgary Flames in Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
Backup goalie Alex Nedeljkovic had 34 saves in his Penguins debut, only surrendering two goals to the Flames.
The Flames took a 1-0 lead late in the second period, but Penguins offense immediately exploded at the beginning of the third period. Bryan Rust scored just 18 seconds into the period to put the Pens on the board, and Reilly Smith gave them the lead just 23 seconds later.
A few minutes later, Jake Guentzel got his first of the season to make it 3-1 Penguins.
The dominant third period for the Pens continued as Malkin scored at 5:46 in the period. Malkin has had two goals and four assists to combine for an impressive six points in just two games.
The Flames made it 4-2 nearly two minutes later, but that didn’t deter the Penguins in any way, as Bryan Rust would score his second of the game on an empty net with 21 seconds left in the game. Guentzel would get the assist on Rust’s goal, giving him three points on the night.
The Penguins will travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings in their next matchup on Wednesday at 7:30.
