Kyle Dubas’ youth movement may have begun in earnest Saturday in Pittsburgh.
Top defense prospect Owen Pickering made his NHL debut — and notched his first point, too — in the Penguins’ 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks at PPG Paints Arena. It was also the first game in black and gold for Vasily Ponomarev. Sam Poulin made it three players aged 23 or younger in the Penguins lineup and seven under 27.
And those fresh legs and a dash of youthful exuberance helped make a difference Saturday as the Penguins beat the Sharks and snapped a three-game losing skid.
First, the Penguins blew a 3-0 lead before they salvaged a victory in a shootout.
Mike Sullivan noted the “enthusiasm” and “urgency” those newcomers provided.
“That can be contagious. These guys have been put in the lineup. They’re excited to be here. They love coming to the rink every day. And they’re eager every time they step on the ice,” the coach said. “It’s good for our veteran guys. It pushes everybody.”
Sullivan confirmed that after a poor start to the season, it was an intentional effort by the Penguins to inject that hunger. Ryan Graves, who struggled a night earlier in a 6-2 loss at Columbus, came out of the lineup so that Pickering could make his debut.
The Penguins told Pickering late Friday that he would play against the Sharks. The team helped him get his parents and brother on a 7 a.m. flight to Pittsburgh.
“To have them here was pretty cool and something that I’ll never forget,” he said.
Even though this was clearly shaping up to be a transition season for the Penguins, with Dubas focusing this offseason on adding picks and prospects and maintaining financial flexibility, it was still disappointing they won just seven of their first 20.
Dubas, their second-year president of hockey operations, sent a message Tuesday when he traded 35-year-old Lars Eller to Washington. That netted the Penguins a pair of picks. It also started to pave the way for prospects to arrive in Pittsburgh.
Pickering, though not seen as a sure-fire star, is the most hyped of the first arrivals.
The 20-year-old was the 21st overall pick in 2022. He turned pro this summer. The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Manitoba native had a decent training camp but was sent to the American Hockey League a few days ahead of final cuts. He played 12 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, scoring his first pro goal and posting a plus-5 rating.
Pickering got in the lineup Saturday, replacing Graves, who was a healthy scratch for the first time since Dubas signed him to a six-year, $27 million contract in 2023.
“It’s a decision that we made based on maybe an accumulation of events over time, that we felt it was time to make those changes and give those guys opportunities to play. We’re not satisfied with where we are and performance matters,” Sullivan said. “If they can make an impact and help our team win, they’re going to play.”
Pickering tried to go through his pregame routine but he was too nervous to nap. He said some of the veteran players on the Penguins helped to settle him down.
Typically pretty jovial, Pickering had a determined look on his face as he stepped on the ice at PPG Paints Arena for the traditional rookie lap. Pickering, who played on the third pair Saturday, went without his helmet during pregame warmups.
“I was so scared,” Pickering said with a laugh. “I was probably more nervous for [my rookie lap], honestly. I was heading out there just saying ‘don’t fall’ to myself.”
But when the puck dropped Saturday, the rookie defenseman was pretty poised.
In the first period, Pickering became the 16th defenseman in Penguins history to record a point in his NHL debut. He had the secondary assist on Jesse Puljujarvi’s goal, which gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead. At the left point, Pickering thought about taking a shot but instead made a heady pass that set the scoring play in motion.
Setting aside his first career point, it was a solid first game for Pickering. He was a plus-1 rating in about 14 minutes of ice time. He mixed in on the penalty kill. And his only big defensive lapse came in the first period, when he misplayed a 3-on-1 rush for the Sharks. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped Klim Kostin to bail Pickering out.
“Pick had a great game,” Sullivan said. “He played with confidence. He defended hard. He had a great block on one of the penalty kills. That was a courageous play. He made a real nice play on Jesse Puljujarvi’s goal, on that backside seam pass to the backside flank. He didn’t play a reckless game. He played a calculated game.”
Ponomarev played well in his first game at PPG Paints Arena, too. He skated on the fourth line. Sullivan liked his puck pursuit, saying it was like “a dog on a bone.”
It was not Poulin’s best night but Sullivan praised him for his play in prior games.
The Penguins grabbed the early lead when Bryan Rust beat Vitek Vanecek with a wraparound. Pickering assisted on the Puljujarvi goal about five minutes later.
Sidney Crosby made it 3-0 in the second period when his long shot somehow got through Mackenzie Blackwood, who replaced Vanecek after the first. That put the captain on the verge of yet another big milestone. That was his 599th career goal.
But the struggling Penguins let yet another multi-goal lead get away from them.
The Sharks pulled back within 3-1 on a Tyler Toffoli power-play goal. Ponomarev, one of the prospects acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade, was in the penalty box.
In the third period, Mikael Granlund and Toffoli scored off the rush to tie it up.
In overtime, Crosby had three good chances to win the game in milestone fashion. But Crosby was unable to beat Blackwood, who stopped 25 of 26 shots in relief.
It took a shootout to settle this battle between two teams in the NHL’s bottom five in points percentage. Evgeni Malkin scored the decisive goal in the fifth round.
Ice chips
• The Penguins have blown multi-goal leads in seven of their 20 games, losing five.
• Pittsburgh improved to 4-1-0 in the second game of a back-to-back this season.
• Crosby’s goal snapped a five-game drought. He last scored Nov. 5 at New York.
• The Penguins have now allowed five power-play goals in their last four games.
• Kris Letang missed his second straight game due to an illness. Pittsburgh’s other scratches were Graves and Valtteri Puustinen, scratched in favor of Ponomarev.
• Erik Karlsson went to the dressing room in some pain after he got drilled along the boards by Ty Dellandrea in the first period. But the defender didn’t miss a shift.
• Sullivan indicated the Penguins could take additional caution with Blake Lizotte after the forward suffered his second concussion in as many months. Lizotte, who went back on injured reserve on Friday, has played just seven games this season.
Stat n’at
3 — Penguins prospects to make their NHL debut this season. The first two were Rutger McGroarty and Joel Blomqvist, who are back in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
They said it
“I feel like I played pretty well,” Pickering said. “Obviously, it’s nice to help the team win, which is big. ... Right now, I’m kind of a whirlwind. I don’t really think I can evaluate my play. But I feel like I did some good things out there, and it was a lot of fun.”
Coming up
The Penguins have a scheduled off day Sunday. They’ll return to practice Monday ahead of their next game, a home tilt Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
First Published: November 17, 2024, 12:09 a.m.
Updated: November 17, 2024, 3:54 a.m.