Sully Says: Preseason Finale

The Pittsburgh Penguins closed out the 2024-25 preseason on Friday with a 7-3 win over Columbus. They dressed the following lineup:

Drew O’Connor – Sidney Crosby – Anthony Beauvillier

Michael Bunting – Evgeni Malkin – Rickard Rakell

Rutger McGroarty – Lars Eller – Jesse Puljujarvi

Kevin Hayes – Cody Glass – Noel Acciari

Matt Grzelcyk – Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson – Jack St. Ivany

Ryan Graves – Harrison Brunicke

After Tristan Jarry played last night in Columbus, Joel Blomqvist got the nod in net for the second half of the home-and-home. The 22-year-old netminder stopped 26 out of 29 shots.

Rickard Rakell led all Penguin skaters with four shots on goal, one finding the back of the net seven seconds into a power play, while Noel Acciari scored twice, and Pittsburgh’s third line dominated on the scoresheet. They combined four goals and ten points in the contest.

Eller, the game’s First Star, recorded two goals and two assists. The trio’s chemistry was in full effect on his second tally, as the veteran forward completed a tic-tac-toe play.

“When we didn’t have the puck, we were moving our feet to get into the right spaces. Then whoever had the puck executed the play,” Eller said. “We were moving the puck north, one touches quick, and just getting above your guys. Then we got some odd-man rushes, and even got the second wave into those rushes. So, it was great. I think just everybody moving their feet, executing the plays.”

McGroarty, the game’s Second Star, got his first goal with Pittsburgh since being acquired from Winnipeg in August. “It feels nice. It feels really nice,” said the 22-year-old rookie. “I mean, everybody loves scoring goals. So, once you score one, especially here - hearing the crowd go nuts - it was pretty cool for me. So yeah, that was fun.”

McGroarty actually saw his parents, sister and girlfriend in the stands while doing the Second Star twirl, capping off a solid performance and ending his preseason slate on a high note.

“Obviously, it’s pretty cool,” he said. “I’ve put in a lot of work. I’ve talked about it before, but just mentally coming in, a little overwhelming at first. But now I feel really comfortable with my game. I feel really good with where my game’s at. So whatever happens, happens, and I’ll do my best.”

Puljujarvi, the game’s Third Star, continued to impress as his breakaway goal in the second period was an absolute work of art. Puljujarvi has encouraged with how he’s turned the page from bilateral hip surgery, and wants to continue to make a positive impact in Pittsburgh.

“I guess have to be a little bit proud. It’s been a really tough year. It was almost like, I couldn’t play. So this feels like a second chance,” he said. “I’ve been doing a lot of work to get back to being a good player. Now, I need to show it. Give myself the best chance every day, and work again and again and again.

Full story on Puljujarvi’s training camp coming Saturday. For now, here are head coach Mike Sullivan’s thoughts from the game.

You had seven goals coming from the bottom six tonight. I know it's preseason, but how encouraging must that be for you going into the regular season?: “Well, it's great. Any time you can get that type of offensive production through your role players, obviously it increases your chance to win. So certainly, the guys that scored tonight have shown an ability to produce. The expectation isn't that they produce as consistently as our top six, but it's important that we generate offense through our lineup. If we want to be the team that we want to become, that we aspire to become, I think that balanced attack is so critically important. You look at the contending teams, the playoff-type teams, balance is an important aspect on both sides of the puck. I think it's encouraging from our standpoint that we've got some guys that I think have had decent camps and are starting off on the right track. Hopefully, they can build some confidence from that.”

If Erik Karlsson can't go Wednesday, how close would you be now to deciding what your defensive pairs might be? Because there's some potentially interesting decisions there: “There are. I think we have some ideas in mind whether Karl's ready or he isn't. We'll have some discussions here over the next probably 24 hours, and solidify those plans, or those contingencies. But there's been, I think, some stiff competition. Some of the guys that are competing for those spots on our blue line, a lot of them have played very well. It's going to make for difficult decisions from our standpoint. That's a credit to the players, how hard they've worked, the commitment that they've displayed throughout the course of training camp. They certainly make our decisions very difficult. But the fact that we have some of the depth that we have just from a sheer numbers standpoint I think is a great sign for us, because it just gives us some versatility and some depth."

Rutger seemed to have another good game today. What progression have you seen from him?: “I thought had a great game again tonight. Every game he plays, I think he gets a little bit better, feels a little bit more comfortable. This is his first pro training camp. I think that can be an overwhelming experience for a young player. I think he's handled it extremely well. He's a mature kid off the ice. He's very respectful of his teammates, his coaches. He's a hard-working kid. His hockey IQ, for me, he thinks the game on an NHL level. He has great recognition skills, anticipation. He knows how to play the game. So, with each day that he's played here, with each game that he's played, I think he just gets a little bit better at adapting to the pace of play, how quickly guys think the game, things of that nature. For me, it might have been his best game tonight. He's played an awful lot. He had to play back-to-back tonight. We were curious how he would handle that as a college player. Those guys aren't used to playing the amount of games I think that the pro game requires. So, all of those things are part of the adjustment process for young players. But we're real excited about where his game is and potentially where it could go moving forward. We think he's going to be an impact player.”

Rakell dealt with that injury much of last year, and to his credit, he's largely refused to blame that injury for his production last year. Is he in a better place physically, does he seem more capable?: “Well, it sure seems that way. He’s come into camp in great shape. This is the best condition he's been in since he's been with the Penguins. He's strong. I think he's had a really good camp, and hopefully he can build on that. From a confidence standpoint, he puts a lot of pressure on himself to help us offensively. He's a great kid in that regard. He cares a lot. So, when he doesn't produce offensively, nobody feels it more than him. I think he's had a terrific start to the season. That shot is an indication. It was a goal scorer's goal. It was a bullet. It was right under the bar, terrific play all around. We know what he's capable of. I mean, he scored 30 goals the year before. He's capable of scoring goals in this league. He's certainly has a body of work in this league to suggest that. So, we’re hoping that we can help him recapture that part of his game. He's a good player, and we're hoping that the fact that he's had as strong a camp as he's had should certainly should help him, from a confidence standpoint, get off on the right track.”

Acciari is obviously a good defensive forward, but he's also put out a lot of good offensive numbers this preseason. So, just wanted to get your thoughts on this performance this preseason: "When he has the ability to produce offensively and chip in offensively like he has throughout the course of this preseason, that's a welcome addition to his overall game. Certainly, he's capable. He's had a 20-goal season in the past. He's capable of scoring goals, we're hoping maybe if we get him on the wing a little bit, it might give him an opportunity to generate a little bit more offense. That was part of the thought process, putting Cody Glass in the middle and moving Noel to the wing. Certainly, he's capable of playing center, but we think there might be an opportunity there where he could help us a little bit offensively if he plays the wing. To have two center icemen on a line like that is a huge bonus because we put them in tough spots, and if one center iceman gets kicked out of the faceoff, the other guy can take it. Just a lot of pluses to be able to move a guy that's comfortable in the middle to the wing. So, these are just some of the things that we've thought about as a coaching staff, and the fact that he's gotten off on the right foot offensively is really encouraging, and we're hoping that he can continue that at the start of the regular season."

James Baracia and Michelle Crechiolo contributed to this story.