Some ideas on tonights simulated video game day for the Penguins:
The video game ends in a tie and the group moves on to some unique teams work as scheduled.
Jared McCann opened the scoring for Black when Patric Hornqvist took a puck far from Jack Johnson in the corner (imagine that). McCann received the puck in an unsafe area right in front of the web and utilized quick hands to beat Tristan Jarry and make it 1-0.
One objective rapidly begat a 2nd goal, Adam Johnson began a strong first duration by racing down the left wing and tossing a beauty of a saucer pass right by Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin. The pass dropped perfectly for Anthony Angello who had actually cut in behind Dumoulin and had the ability to put it by Matt Murray. Truly good play by the reserves.
— In the 2nd duration the Team Gold 3rd line (A Johnson – Lafferty – Angello) are just having their method with the Team Black third line (Poulin – Varone – Miletic), managing zone play for many of the shift. Then Poulin got a breakaway when an errant puck trickled out of the zone, Poulin cant settle the puck for a while, and when he does he is in tight and simply shoots on Jarry.
— Marleau and Hornqvist work a go and provide and Hornqvists shot manages Jarry, however not the post as no goal is discovered there with the game getting late.
— Marleau dekes right through Jack Johnson (lol) and is in all alone however Jarry bails out his defenseman. Nice move by Marleau, but jeez, thats the Jack we understand and do not love!
— I believe at this point Zucker has more objectives than his linemates in Rust and Evgeni Malkin in camp. He is a really fast gamer who covers a great deal of ice (see above bullet point) but always appears to be in the best place at the right time, and he has the skill to convert. Appears like hes fitting in really perfectly to what could and must be a very powerful line for Pittsburgh.
— Gold practically gets another one, A. Johnson makes another terrific focusing pass for Angello who gets a shot from point blank range that Murray stops.
— Team Gold ratings to connect the video game at 2. Murray makes one stick-check but Letang cant clear the puck and it goes right to Teddy Blueger. Blueger mixes the puck in as Murray attempts another poke check that whiffs.
— This game was a bit various since the Pens have a larger compliment of players, managing each of the split teams a third line now that players have been cleared from their covid exposure associated absence. And, for the very first time, groups are a lot more well balanced too.
— Malkin making bad passes/losing the puck and after that yelling out muddled sounds of annoyance at himself (and perhaps others!) is one of the most significant thrills of the empty arena circumstance.
Or Team Gold?
Guentzel – Rodrigues – ShearyAston-Reese – Blueger – TanevA. Johnson – Lafferty – Angello
Pettersson – MarinoJ. Johnson – SchultzCzuczman
JarryLarmi– Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 23, 2020
— Top power play is as anticipated. Hornqvist joins Letang, Guentzel, Malkin and McCann. This group ratings after a good zone entry areas out the penalty kill and Malkin makes a cross-ice pass for McCann. McCann wrists it with some traffic in front to the corner of Murrays web.
— The first period ended with the groups trading 3 objectives in the order of Black, Gold, Black. The game was exceptionally free-flowing with very few interruptions and lots of skating and back-and-forth end-to-end play.
— The younger guys looked great early. A. Johnson showcased his speed and was among the more obvious and best players out there in the first (not unlike Sam Lafferty and Evan Rodrigues and Conor Sheary in prior skirmishes). The venue of a same-squad camp scrimmage is best for gamers who will strive and have some wheels to be able and stick out, and we saw that once again.
— Nice to get a look of Samuel Poulin and Pierre-Olivier Joseph for the very first time in a while. Because each group had five defensemen, there was a bit of a rotation and Joseph looked calm and collected with the puck playing a shift with Kris Letang.
— Both PKs hold for a couple of drills but then the second group scores a last objective. Marino puts a point shot in, Zucker and Rust crash to the web, Rust finds the puck and buries it past Jarry as a final shot. The team then groups together at center ice and gets their cool off extending going.
— Then at the other end Adam Johnson (thus dubbed the great one) takes the puck far from Miletic and generates another scoring chance for himself but Murray gets his glove on the shot.
— Late in the 2nd, Patrick Marleau finds a way to tie the video game for Team Black (similar to last video game!). He collects the loose puck from an errant shot behind the web and banks it off of Kevin Czuzcman and it beats Jarry to the post. 3-3.
Group Black got the lead back when Jarry pulled himself out of position to play a puck and try behind the internet that Bryan Rust wound up getting to initially, when the puck stopped short of the goalies trapezoid. Rust twisted around and discovered Jason Zucker with a pass, and Zucker well recovered a pass in his skates and had the ability to still corral and get a shot off quicker by an out-of-place Jarry who was still recovering in the net.
— Team Gold takes their first lead. Chad Ruhwedel cant deal with a bouncing puck and turns it over to Guentzel. Guentzel generally has a 2-on-1 and feeds Sheary through the defense of Juuso Riikola. Sheary quickly discharges the shot past Murray, 3-2 video game.
— John Marino and Justin Schultz are playing the points for the 2nd power play group with Zucker, Sheary and Bryan Rust up front. They likewise score on their very first shift, in a damaged play, with Schultz ending up on the back post, finding a bouncing puck and knocking it home previous Jarry on the other end of the ice.
— The matchups are intriguing. The Malkin line is playing the Blueger line a lot. The Jake Guentzel line appears to be drawing the McCann line. And after that both teams 3rd line of depth players going against each other. Its not a lot of Malkin vs. Guentzel power on power, more the offending line vs a monitoring line.
Things and gamers who stuck out for good factors:
– Adam Johnson – Sam Lafferty – Anthony Angello line, great deals of energy and just looked hungier than the majority of. Very little to read into here, theyre just depth gamers who were motivated to play well against fellow depth players.
– Bouncing puck. Ice looked bad, great deals of sloppy play developed by an uncooperative puck that was a factor for everybody all game long. This wasnt truly an excellent reason, however should have a reference.
– Jason Zucker looked truly good. Smart gamer, nice wheels, excellent hands, has the vision and ability to make plays. Hes simply really well-rounded and seems to be able to do everything at a high level.
Addressing our questions
From before the scrimmage I had three questions/major points of interest. They were addressed to various degrees:
# 1: Captain sighting?
– Answer: ehh, very little to check out into given the game. Really wide-open, heavy skating video game. The players are beginning to use sticks to block shot efforts, but in general a lot of the objectives were the direct outcome of a defenseman messing up (Dumoulin enabling a pass to Angello, Jack Johnson being Jack Johnson, Ruhwedel spending the puck to Guentzel, and so on). Jarry had the hard luck of going to play the puck just to enjoy it die about a foot before he might play it.
# 2: All eyes on the goalies … as typical
Besides that, both goalies were respectable. Murray held his own versus the top power play quite well.
If this was next weeks exhibit game against Philadelphia, it would be Panic Levels 8/10. As of now, not much to get worked up about.
# 3: First chance for the 3rd line
One more skirmish on Saturday afternoon prior to the Pens leave for Toronto.
Hornqvist, as expected, showed energy and enthusiasm back with the team. It was an encouraging first video game for those people, specifically given that they had to go head-to-head against Guentzel/Sheary for much of the night.
He collects the loose puck from an errant shot behind the web and banks it off of Kevin Czuzcman and it beats Jarry to the post. Marino puts a point shot in, Zucker and Rust crash to the net, Rust finds the puck and buries it previous Jarry as a last shot. Ice looked bad, lots of careless play developed by an uncooperative puck that was an element for everybody all video game long. The players are starting to use sticks to block shot efforts, however overall a lot of the objectives were the direct result of a defenseman messing up (Dumoulin allowing a pass to Angello, Jack Johnson being Jack Johnson, Ruhwedel coughing up the puck to Guentzel, etc). Jarry had the tough luck of going to play the puck just to enjoy it die about a foot before he might play it.
