What a night it was for Elliot Lake, for youth hockey, and for Pittsburgh’s big guns.
Evgeni Malkin netted a hat trick, and Sidney Crosby added two goals, as the Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-2, during the annual Kraft “Hockeyville” preseason showdown that took place in Sudbury, Ontario this year.
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The Senators were the better team in the earlygoing, and they took a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. But the Penguins took over during the second period, scoring four unanswered goals to close out the game.
Goaltender Filip Larsson relieved Tristan Jarry midway through the second period and stopped every Senators’ shot he faced.
Here are some thoughts, notes, and observations from tonight’s game.
– Blake Lizotte left the game in the very early minutes of the first period and did not return. It was announced by the Penguins mid-game that he sustained an upper-body injury.
Mike Sullivan had more detail on Blake Lizotte’s injury: “He got hit in the face with the puck. Scary thing. He never saw it coming. That was a tough one. I don’t think the guys were used to the bench being that far down into the zone. That’s a little bit different in this rink.”
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) September 30, 2024
He was slated to play alongside Malkin and Rickard Rakell, and Michael Bunting bumped up to that line in his absence.
Hopefully, holding him out was a precautionary thing and nothing more. If not, the forward battle for roster spots could get a whole lot more interesting down the stretch run in training camp.
– He is only 18 years old and, presumably, headed for junior hockey. But Harrison Brunicke may quietly be earning himself a nine-game trial run with this team.
Brunicke was paired alongside Marcus Pettersson in this game. He had a rough time on the first Ottawa goal, looking a little bit disjointed and finding himself way out of position.
But after that, Brunicke was locked in. He overcommitted a few times, but he displayed great vision and sprung a few nice breakout passes, made a solid play to help prevent a breakaway in the third, and got the puck through traffic and to the net several times in the offensive zone.
Related: Questions Emerge Regarding Karlsson, Penguins’ Blue Line
As I’ve mentioned, Erik Karlsson’s injury situation will be an interesting one to watch. If Karlsson isn’t ready to go, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Brunicke gets those nine games. And – honestly – he’s…