The Pittsburgh Penguins officially opened their preseason last night with an unfortunate 7-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. For those who did not watch the game would think it was a brutal showing for the Penguins prospects, but the Sabres played all but two NHL regulars in this game. The Penguins lineup, however, consisted of defensemen Ryan Graves and John Ludvig, and forwards Drew O’Connor, Jesse Puljujarvi, and Cody Glass as the “NHL” players.
One of those NHL players, Jesse Puljujarvi, scored all three goals for the Penguins, and looked like the team’s best player. Prospect forward
Tristan Broz had two assists, and forwards Rutger McGoarty, Ville Koivunen, and Avery Hayes all had an assist as well.
Things got off good for the Pens in the first period after McGoarty drew a penalty very early, which led to a Puljujarvi power-play goal after a deflection off of a Koivunen shot gave the Penguins the 1-0 lead just 68 seconds into the game. Goalie Joel Blomqvist had a good first period as well, stopping 15 of 16 shots, but did not look that stable. Then, in the second, he fell apart, as the Sabres scored five goals in the first 4:40 of play.
In the third period, down 7-1, Puljujarvi would beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen twice in 29 seconds to make the score 7-3, and that would be all she wrote for this one.
In general, the Penguins were much more heavily outmatched with an NHL team versus a team’s prospects. However, some players looked very solid, in my opinion. Obviously, Jesse Puljujarvi was the star, and Broz, McGoarty, Koivunen, and Hayes all looked well, in my opinion. The defense was not horrible, but nothing good either. Blomqvist looked shaky, especially in the second period, and Filip Larsson looked decent, but nothing eye-catching.
Once again, this was only the first game of preseason. The Penguins still have about two weeks to get their final roster to what they need to be. Not time to overreact…yet.
