If you're a Pittsburgh Penguins' fan, it's probably hard to come away from this pre-season disappointed.
On Friday, the Penguins capped off their 5-1-1 pre-season with a 5-4 overtime comeback win against the Buffalo Sabres. Captain Sidney Crosby registered the game-winning goal - as well as the team's tying goal in regulation - and Philip Tomasino, Harrison Brunicke, and Rickard Rakell also added tallies for the Penguins.
Tristan Jarry started the game in goal and allowed three goals on 19 Sabres' shots, and Sergei Murashov came in relief midway through the second period and stopped 12 of 13.
The game got a little hairy in the middle of it, and there were some mistakes by the young guys, which I'll get to momentarily. In a game that comprised mostly of NHL players on both sides, the Penguins' prospects who were in the lineup put forth strong efforts once again, which is going to make for some difficult decisions for head coach Dan Muse and his staff leading up to Monday - which is when final NHL rosters need to be submitted.
"There's going to be a lot of conversations here," Muse said. "Starting into tonight, just with [Kyle Dubas] and management. There's still some hard decisions to make. So, those decision are going to need to be made, and conversations are going need to be had, and we're going to prepare."
Here are some notes and observations from this one:
- This game was an utterly perfect example of why Brunicke needs to be on the opening night NHL roster.
First thing's first: his goal was a thing of beauty, and it showcased why he's such an intriguing, higher-ceiling defensive prospect. On the goal, Brunicke started at the right point then put his skating on display to weave past two Sabres along the wall and walk to the goal line, where he placed a perfect shot top-shelf over Alexander Georgiev's shoulder from a bad angle.
But, this game was not without its mistakes for the young blueliner.
On Buffalo's second goal by Tage Thompson, Brunicke was caught a bit when Ben Kindel turned the puck over at center ice. Brunicke allowed Thompson to get to the inside and lost him, leaving him exposed to the slot and the net-front. On Buffalo's fourth goal - the second of the game by Jiri Kulich - he simply lost his man at the net-front, which also happened to be the goal-scorer.
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took to the podium and made a declaration of sorts.
The point here is that these are defensive zone mishaps that are only going to get worse at the junior level. The kinds of mistakes he is making are ones that many young NHL defensemen make and improve upon with NHL experience.
What exactly is sending him back to the WHL going to teach him? His mistakes are coming as a result of either trying to do too much or defensive details. And both of those things are not things he'll be improving upon by playing junior hockey against players younger and far less developed than he is. He needs to be reading off of, learning from, and playing against NHL competition.
If he is not on this roster when final rosters are submitted Monday, something is amiss.
- Speaking of youth mistakes, Ben Kindel had a bit of an up-and-down night as well. He did register the primary assist on Tomasino's weird goal - extending his pre-season point streak to three games - but he also committed that crucial turnover on Thompson's goal.
Kindel said it's key to just "wash" those mistakes right after they happen and focus on the next shift. Brunicke echoed a similar sentiment. I asked Muse about how he and the coaching staff weigh the expectation that young players are going to make mistakes against their current evaluation process.
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"It's how they respond," Muse said. "With Kindel, I thought his reponse was good. You go out there and make up for it. You've got to keep playing the game. Especially for a young guy, it's, 'How are they going to respond?' And then, as you go through, you're watching... Are we learning? Maybe the situational awareness, knowing where you are on a shift, knowing where you are on the ice... it's our job to help them understand those things and understand it while not overthinking the game at the same time and not putting themselves where they're able to go out there and play scared or play on their heels. That's not what you want."
I'm not exactly sure what to expect with Kindel when final rosters are revelaed. I believe that he has earned a look at the NHL level, even if it's only for the nine games. He's been that good in the pre-season, and it's worth mentioning that he played in six of the seven games - which is usually a good indicator that the organization likes what it's seeing.
But there are several young forwards deserving of a roster spot out of camp, too, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.
- Rakell has pretty consistently been killing penalties at this point, and man, has it been a treat to watch. He excels at pressuring guys one-on-one, he cuts off angles, his reads are excellent, and he takes it the other way for a scoring chance at least once per game.
I think this is going to be something that bleeds into the regular season, and I quite like Muse's philosophy of deploying "power play guys" on the penalty kill. I think Bryan Rust will also continue to be part of that equation once he returns from injury.
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- I said it in my last piece, but I really like the early returns on the Parker Wotherspoon and Erik Karlsson pairing. Wotherspoon is very non-eventful, and it's working really well in tandem with Karlsson being very eventful.
I think it's safe to say that this will be the first pairing when the regular season opens on Oct. 7.
- As far as line combinations, I'm curious to see what sticks. I do believe that the first line of Ville Koivunen, Crosby, and Rakell will be kept intact, as Koivunen has been pretty glued to Crosby throughout camp, and Rakell has always excelled on 87's wing. It has the right recipe to be a pretty formidable line for the Penguins: Sidney Crosby, a playmaking specialist with excellent vision, and a strong finisher who excels at creating space.
I'm also intrigued by the third line, as Kindel, Tommy Novak, and Philip Tomasino - with a little bit of Avery Hayes sprinkled in - have been working together for the last several practices. Regardless of what combination of three has been working together, it's gone relatively well in game action. Tomasino has had a strong camp, as have Kindel and Hayes. And I do think Novak's pre-season got better as it bore on.
It's probably reasonable to suggest that either Kindel or Hayes might occupy one of those spots as we move ahead to the regular season.
- I'll keep this short and sweet, but I honestly have no idea what's going to happen with the goaltending situation.
Murashov is the best goaltender in this organization, period. Will he supplant Jarry or Arturs Silovs, or will he get a run of development at the AHL level?
A few days ago, my answer was different. Now, I'm not so sure he won't be in New York on Oct. 7.
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Pittsburgh Penguins' final 2025-26 roster.
- Speaking of pairings, Caleb Jones was - again - paired with Kris Letang, and Clifton played his off-side with Brunicke.
We're reaching the point where we can, indeed, begin to read into some things. Because of the fact that Jones has been glued to Letang, I expect him to be on the roster. I don't necessarily think he's been one of the Penguins' six-best defensemen in camp, but they seem to like what he brings to that pairing.
And I do think it's interesting that we've seen Clifton play the off-side a few times, and same with Shea. Honestly, that alone bodes well for Brunicke, as he has stayed put on the right side along with Karlsson and Letang, who won't miss out on a roster spot.
But the Jones situation does complicate things a bit for Brunicke. Matt Dumba has also had a good camp, Clifton showed well, and Ryan Shea has been good. Ryan Graves is also still part of the picture.
So, do the Penguins keep eight defensemen? And if so, who is the odd man out? What if they elect to keep 14 forwards?
There is a whole lot of intrigue to this roster situation. Monday can't come soon enough. Stay tuned, folks.
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