We got our first look at the core of Pittsburgh’s roster for opening night, as all of the big guys made their preseason debuts in the Penguins’ 3-1 win versus Buffalo on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena - with Erik Karlsson skating in black and gold for the first time.
"I wasn't too, what do you call it? Weirded out," the superstar defenseman said with a laugh. "It was a little bit of a different feeling, especially in the warmup and stuff, and being on the other side. But it feels pretty natural to me. Ever since I got here about three weeks ago, I've been welcomed in the best way possible by everyone. It just feels like home right from the start. I'd say overall, it felt pretty normal and pretty good."
Here’s the lineup the Penguins used…
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Alex Nylander
Drew O’Connor-Lars Eller-Matt Nieto
Austin Wagner-Noel Acciari-Jeff Carter
Ryan Graves-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-Chad Ruhwedel
Rickard Rakell, skating alongside Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust with Jake Guentzel out to start the year, went down on one knee to bury a one-timer off a feed from the captain. That opened the scoring at the 11:27 mark of the second period.
"I think he’s a really smart player," the captain said. "He’s got a great shot. You saw his hands there in the third, that move he made. So, he can do a lot of things, but I think we’ve played together a fair amount and generated some good chances. And you know with Rusty how he’s going to play every night, and I thought he looked really good. He was using his speed and generated a lot of chances. Hopefully, we get more and more sharp here as the games go on."
With less than a minute to go in the middle frame, sniper Tage Thompson – who finished sixth in goals last season – tied it at 1-1. Prior to that, Drew O'Connor had gotten two breakaways that he wasn't able to convert, but the 25-year-old forward finally got rewarded in the final period with a pair of goals.
"I should have had a few more," he admitted with a wry smile after the game. "It’s nice to get a couple of those. It’s a little bit of a confidence boost, so it feels good."
Tristan Jarry made 24 saves between the pipes for Pittsburgh. Here’s what Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan had to say after the game.
This was the first real game Erik Karlsson and Marcus Pettersson have played together. What were your initial impressions of them? I thought they had some moments where they were really good – and we could probably say this about our whole team – I know we had some moments when we were really good. I thought we had some moments where we were a little bit sloppy. It's probably to be expected with a lot of these guys. It's their first real game a long time. But I think Marcus and Erik have the potential to be a real solid pair for us. I think the more they get to play with one another, they'll get a little bit more comfortable. There's a lot of chatter on the bench between those guys. Same thing with Ryan Graves and Tanger (Kris Letang). These guys have worked through some of the challenges till they get to know each other's tendencies and have the ability to read off each other. But like I said, I thought they had moments when they were really good. They made some nice plays. They helped us with some clean exits. You know, I think when you look at guys like Erik – and I think Kris is the same way – those guys, they’re one-man breakouts sometimes. They can create separation from the forecheck, they can hang the first forechecker on the post and use the net. They just drive offense by giving us clean exits. So, I think that's what you're going to see from those guys. But like I said, we got a ways to go as a team, for sure. For the first game for a lot of these guys in a long time. I thought it was pretty good.
