Pregame
New lineup for the Penguins, Ilya Solovyov makes his Pittsburgh debut, Rutger McGroarty is back from the AHL to get back in the absence of Bryan Rust (suspension). Arturs Silovs gets the call in the net.
First period
Chicago starts the game with their third line, so Dan Muse elects to put his fourth line out to match for a curious opening faceoff. No Sidney Crosby and Connor Bedard squaring up right off the bat.
Sloppy and slow start for the Penguins. Ben Kindel takes a penalty six minutes in, the Blackhawks get a lot going on the power play but don’t score (Bedard dents the crossbar with a shot to come close). It keeps building, Ryan Greene pulls up and hits Connor Murphy with a pass. The defender takes a shot, Kris Letang backs all the way into Silovs, which couldn’t have helped matters. 1-0 Chicago.
Pittsburgh gets a spark from their sparkplug fourth line. Blake Lizotte might have got away with a trip (surely the only thing a Penguin player got away with in the first period, considering they ended up in the penalty box four times in the first 20 minutes) and that opening is all they need. Noel Acciari shoots, Connor Dewar eventually finds the rebound, wheels out into a shooting area and fires the puck in for his 12th goal of the year. 1-1 game.
The refs make it up to Chicago by giving them their second power play of the game on the next shift. This one isn’t as good. Two coincidental minors later the period comes to an end. Not a pretty sight for the Pens still looking to get their legs back under them from the long road trip, but they get out of the first period even at 1-1.
Second period
The Pens get to work, McGroarty causes mayhem in the crease, Chicago can’t clear a little later and Anthony Mantha feeds Ben Kindel in the middle of the ice. Kindel hesitates on the shot and gets goalie Arvid Soderblom to think high glove side. That leaves a lot open five hole. 2-1 Pens.
History strikes – kinda. For the first time in the last six periods, the Penguins are awarded a power play. They look out of practice and don’t get much going.
The Pens get a pretty goal on the rush. Parker Wotherspoon stands up Tyler Bertuzzi, blocking his attempt as the hit gets delivered. The puck rolls to Evgeni Malkin who is off to the races. Malkin pulls up with a spinning backhand centering pass to Egor Chinakhov. Chinakhov blows by Artom Levshunov and lifts the puck past Soderblom. 3-1.
31 seconds later, Pittsburgh strikes again. Kindel puts a great pass for a streaking Mantha for a breakaway. In a move that would make Mario proud, Mantha feints a forehand shot, Soderblom bites and it’s an easy finish to the backhand. 4-1 game just like that.
There’s blood in the water, Pittsburgh gets another before intermission. McGroarty was causing more mayhem in the crease, Mantha found the loose puck and sent it back to the point for Solovyov. Solovyov quickly bumped it over for Ryan Shea to hammer. It finds its mark. 5-1 game.
It took 20 minutes for Pittsburgh to get their legs back, they found them in the second and exposed Soderblom as the backup goalie he is, while throwing 23 (count ’em, 23!) shots on goal in the second period alone. Four goals in the middle frame opens up a sizeable 5-1 lead.
Third period
The Blackhawks look like they are ready to get out of town, only one shot on goal in the first 14 minutes of the period. The Pens keep going, eventually the fourth line crashes the net, going crazy to smack another one home. Dewar gets there to do it for his second goal of the night. 6-1.
That wakes Bedard up, at least. He comes down on the rush and lets Brett Kulak slide himself completely out of position. Bedard has all day to pick a spot and snipe Silovs high to the glove. 6-2 game.
Silovs actually has to make one more save on a good chance from in close, then things settle down and the teams ease onto the final whistle.
Some thoughts
- One of the trickle down effects of Bryan Rust’s suspension is that Egor Chinakhov is now on the top power play. Has shades of Jared McCann 2021 with that left handed option on the left side ready to fire that shot short-side.
- The biggest impact of no Rust was Justin Brazeau moving up to the top line. He looked mostly in the way, isn’t easy to play with Crosby and the lack of familiarity was on display. Will be interesting to see if they give that more time to find more, Crosby rotated in with Malkin a couple times in the third period, Brazeau still only played 12:45 at even strength despite the label of being a first line player.
- Keeping Mantha with Kindel proved to be worth whatever lead time the top line might need. They have something special going on. McGroarty didn’t register a point but was more visible in this game than he had been in several of his recent NHL showings too. Lots of chaos on that line, augmented by the skilled plays and finishes that Kindel and Mantha put on display.
- The second period was a feast like nobody’s business; Mantha scored three points while only taking six shifts that period. That’s like ‘your best night happening against a bad team’ in beer league type of production there.
- Speaks to just how dangerous and balanced the Penguins are when they score six goals on the night and their normal first power play (Crosby, Rust, Rakell, Malkin, Karlsson) have all of one assist on the night (Malkin’s pass to Chinakhov). Rust, of course, had a good reason for not producing any points since he wasn’t allowed to play, the rest of the most skilled and players relied on for offense weren’t required of much on this night. The third and fourth lines were more than Chicago could handle, combining for five goals between themselves.
- Solovyov first impressions: good night and opening game. Has some good size, did pin Bedard to the wall once in the first. By design it was a quiet introduction to ease him in, with the blowout allowing him to get more ice time in each period. Earned a primary assist with a basic play but good idea. Stats were 16:51, 3 shot attempts (neither on net, two blocked, one missed), 1 hit, 2 giveaways, 1 blocked shot. (The giveaways stand out a little, but were nothing egregious. The NHL did change the standard and frequency of how they record giveaways before last season, increasing it dramatically). Too early to say much, Solovyov was deferring to his partner Shea to do almost all the heavy lifting moving the puck, but hey, to be expected on the first night with a new team.
- It’s also too early to be watching the out of town scores for anything besides mostly fun, though it’s too much fun not to take a gander – especially when the Pens won their game without much despair. However, there was almost no help across the board so it’s not that much fun of an update besides holding serve. Carolina just scored three goals in the last two minutes to turn a regulation loss against Utah into a 5-4 win, the Pens remain six points out of first place as a result (with a game in hand). The Islanders defeated a hapless Ranger team to stay tied with the Pens (Pittsburgh does have two games in hand on NYI). The Devils earned an OT win, though they are seven points back of Pittsburgh. The Flyers lost again, which is always good, but losing relevance since they are way in the rearview mirror now (eight points back of Pittsburgh, who has one game in hand). Washington is currently tied.
Not the toughest of competition but the Pens can only play the team in front of them and handled business convincingly to keep their winning streak rolling. Next up is a visit from the Rangers on Saturday afternoon.
