Preseason: Penguins Defeat Senators in Kraft Hockeyville Game

The Pittsburgh Penguins took on the Ottawa Senators in the NHL’s annual Kraft Hockeyville game in Sudbury, Ontario, last night. The annual game, that was scheduled to be played in Elliot Lake, Ontario, could not get their arena upgraded in time for the game, so it was moved two hours east to Sudbury, at the home of the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL.

Both teams played mostly NHLers, as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were in for the Pens, and Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk were in for the Sens.

Recap

The scoring was broken exactly four minutes into this game, when 2023 Stanley Cup Champion Nick Cousins scored his first goal of the preseason with his new team to make it 1-0 Senators, after the Penguins could not clear the puck out of their zone following multiple chances from the Sens. The Penguins tied up the game with 11:05 remaining in the first after Kris Letang received a back pass from new Penguin Anthony Beauvillier and fed a shot pass across to Sidney Crosby, who deflected it past Forsberg for his first preseason goal. Tim Stutzle gave the Senators the lead back with 7:05 left in the period by firing one past goalie Tristan Jarry’s right side after cutting through the high slot and past several Penguins.

The Penguins put Filip Larsson in with 8:27 left in the second period to replace Jarry, so Larsson can get some reps against NHL competition. With 5:01 left in the second, Evgeni Malkin tied the game up on the power play off a very weird bounce that beat Sens goalie Anton Forsberg. The Pens then took a 3-2 lead with 2:58 left off a backhand shot by Malkin, to give him his second goal of the game.

In the third, Sidney Crosby took a nice feed from Bryan Rust on the power play to give the Penguins the 4-2 lead with 12:07 left in the game. Geno would then add an empty netter with 2:16 left to give him the hat trick, and the Penguins the 5-2 lead. That would end up being the final score.

Three Stars

PIT F Evgeni Malkin (3G, 1A, 4P)

PIT G Tristan Jarry/Filip Larsson (Comb. 28/30, .962 SV%, 2 GA)
PIT D Kris Letang (2A, 2P, 1 SOG)

Game Notes

Penguins forward Blake Lizotte left the game with an upper-body injury.

Senators forward Brady Tkachuk left the game with a shoulder injury after falling to the ice after getting tripped up by Penguins D Kris Letang early in the third period, but did return.

Senators defenseman Nick Jensen left the game in the third period after getting hit in the face with the puck while Penguins forward Kevin Hayes was trying to clear the puck in the zone.

Evgeni Malkin is the second player to record a hat trick for the Penguins in this preseason, after forward Jesse Puljujarvi had a hat trick in the Penguins first preseason game, a 7-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres

The Penguins next game will be tomorrow against the Detroit Red Wings in Detroit at 7 PM. The Senators next game is Tuesday in Montreal against the Canadiens.