Faceoff Factor

Penguins Training Camp – Day 3 Report

Jesse Marshall | Pittsburgh Penguins

Sep 19, 02:31 PM | Hype this story!

We have a lot to cover from today’s scrimmage, so let’s get right to the lines.

Team White:

Miroslav Satan – Sidney Crosby – Pascal Dupuis
Ruslan Fedotenko – Max Talbot – Matt Cooke
Eric Godard – Kris Beech – Luca Caputi
Ryan Stone – Mark Letestu – Tim Wallace

Sergei Gonchar – Brooks Orpik
Darryl Sydor – Alex Goligoski
Ben Lovejoy – Danny Richmond

David Brown
Marc-Andre Fleury

Team Black:

Jordan Staal – Evgeni Malkin – Petr Sykora
Janne Pesonen – Jeff Taffe – Tyler Kennedy
Adam Henrich – Bill Thomas – Connor James
Paul Bissonnette – Dustin Jeffrey – Johnathan Filewich

Hal Gill – Jonathan D’Aversa
Mark Eaton – Kristopher Letang
TJ Kemp – Deryk Engellend

John Curry
Dany Sabourin

The first period got off to a fast start. Pascal Dupuis found Sidney Crosby at the side of the net, but David Brown was up to the challenge, and made a daunting glove save on Crosby’s attempt.

The first goal was scored by Jeff Taffe. Sidney Crosby turned the puck over on a behind-the-back pass and Tyler Kennedy scooped it up. Kennedy blazed through the neutral zone and fed the puck to Taffe, who beat goaltender Curry on the blocker side. Team Black lead 1-0.

Miroslav Satan tied the game at one in what was a scene that I hope to be repeated all year. Ben Lovejoy scooped the puck up at center ice and created the offensive rush. Crosby got the puck in the far corner, and Satan snuck in behind everyone on the near-side post. Crosby fed it to Satan, who simply tapped home the pass.

Second Period:

Team Black took the lead when Petr Sykora unleashed a howitzer of a wrist shot from above the near circle. The puck went in the corner to Jordan Staal, who fed it behind the goal to Evgeni Malkin at the far corner. Malkin made a cross-ice pass to Sykora, who was in the soft spot of three defenders. The goaltender never had a chance. Sykora scores from that spot 9 times out of 10.

Tim Wallace tied the game for Team White off of a strong shot by Ryan Stone. Mark Letestu made a fantastic cross-ice pass to Stone, who whipped a wrist-shot at the net. The puck snuck underneath Dany Sabourin, and Tim Wallace tapped home the garbage. The game was tied at 2.

Third Period:

Team Black took the lead again when Brooks Orpik turned the puck over on a flubbed pass in the defensive zone. Jordan Staal corralled the puck and fed it to Petr Sykora. Sykora shot it and Evgeni Malkin picked up the garbage on a bank shot. Malkin’s goal gave Team Black the lead 3-2.

Less than a minute later, Black struck again, this time it was Janne Pesonen. In an impressive move, Pesonen deked into the offensive zone, went to the far side, and backhanded a goal over the near side post. It was a very impressive shot by Pesonen. Team Black lead 4-2.

The lead was cut when Danny Richmond threw a wrist shot at the net. Miroslav Satan was in front of the goal and re-directed the puck past Marc-Andre Fleury. Richmond’s wrist-shot was set up on a nice D to D pass by Ben Lovejoy. It was Lovejoy’s second assist of the day. Team Black still lead 4-3.

White tied the game when Ruslan Fedotenko scored on a beautiful tic-tac-toe play. Max Talbot threw the puck to Crosby, who found a wide open Fedotenko in the slot. Fedotenko beat Fleury on the high glove side.

Shootout:

Team White’s first shooter was Miroslav Satan. He missed the goal aiming high glove.

Team Black’s first shooter was Kristopher Letang. Letang did his popular deke to backhand, high blocker move and scored. Team Black lead 1-0.

Team White’s second shooter was Ruslan Fedotenko. Fedotenko scored on a blazing high-glove wrist shot without deking. Shootout was tied 1-1.

Team Black’s third shooter was Evgeni Malkin. Malkin deked to backhand and scored high glove on Dany Sabourin. Team Black lead 2-1.

Team White’s third shooter was Sidney Crosby. Crosby deked in, but Fleury dove out and poke checked the puck off his stick. Team Black won the shootout 2-1.

Individual Player Notes and Musings:

Ben Lovejoy had a great last day of camp. The pairing of Lovejoy/Richmond was good all week, but Lovejoy shined today. His ability to take control of the puck and skate it up ice will be a great attribute for WB/S this season. It already seems as if Danny Richmond and Lovejoy have good chemistry together.

Miroslav Satan might be the perfect forward for Sidney Crosby. On White’s first goal, everyone’s attention was deflected to Crosby in the far corner. Satan snuck in behind everyone and made them pay. Satan ends up with 4 goals in 3 training camp scrimmages. He was the most impressive player on the ice today. What surprised me most were his defensive soundness and his backchecking capabilities. If this is the way Satan will play on a nightly basis, none of us are going to remember or care about Marian Hossa.

People are quick to judge Pascal Dupuis as Crosby’s 2nd winger, but he’s looked solid throughout camp, and has provided a lot of board work to that line. I don’t think there’s a better option for that position on the roster. He might not score 25 goals, but he’ll use his speed to do the work that will allow Crosby and Satan to be productive.

Alex Goligoski had a solid camp. He wasn’t mind-blowing, but he seemed to really work well with veteran Darryl Sydor. From the stands today, you could hear Sydor yelling “Goose!” whenever Goligoski needed to make a pass.

Janne Pesonen had his best day today and not just because of the goal. He was shedding defenders and really utilizing his speed. His backhander was a thing of beauty.

If I had to make a vote for the fourth line center spot, I’d pick Jeff Taffe. He quietly had a good week. Beech was excellent as well, but Taffe outplayed him in scrimmages. Taffe’s speed seems improved and he was driving to the net all weekend.

Someone asked me about Sergei Gonchar today. The reason I haven’t mentioned him is because he sort of just glides around during training camp. But, when you’ve been in the league as long as he has, you earn that right, I guess.

Jonathan D’Aversa didn’t look out of place playing with Hal Gill. Along with TJ Kemp. I cannot reiterate enough what a good group of defenders WB/S has coming into their camp next week.

Sidney Crosby looked his same old explosive self today. He was cutting through defenders and springing himself on odd man breaks all day. Today was the best Crosby has looked all week.

The “24, 25, 26” line Cooke, Talbot and Fedotenko looked solid again today.

I was rather unimpressed with Dustin Jeffrey this week. I had hoped to see some of the pedigree he had in juniors, but it wasn’t there. In both scrimmages he participated in, he was underwhelming and mainly invisible. His shot, which is his best and most used attribute, wasn’t even on display today.

My own opinion about Casey Pierro-Zabotel seems to be the consensus among others as well. He looks good, but isn’t ready yet. Understandable, as he’s coming off of his first year in junior.

Marc-Andre Fleury got a laugh from the crowd today when he rode his stick around the ice like a horse after poke-checking the puck off of Sidney Crosby’s stick in the shootout. Hal Gill earned a standing ovation from Team White after he snuck a ton of shots past Marc-Andre Fleury while warming him up. Gill, despite being on Team Black, high-fived the competition as he returned to his own bench.

With the way Tyler Kennedy has played in this training camp, its safe to say he’s made it. You can forget about him going back to the minors any time soon.

Overall, the Penguins seem set. The offseason acquisitions looked strong, the defensive units are solid, and this team has very little room for competition in the lineup. It’s certainly a talented squad with two superstar centers that feature two true snipers playing with them.

If anyone has any questions, I’ll answer them as best I can for the duration of the afternoon.

Thanks for sticking with us during training camp. It was certainly a great experience.