Jesse Puljujarvi, Drew O'Connor among Penguins bottom six providing increased scoring support
Cameron Hoover / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Sidney Crosby’s overtime winner against the Sabres on Wednesday night was his first goal of the season — and the longest it’s taken the captain to get on the score sheet since a six-game drought to start the 2018-19 season.
In previous years, this may have been a real problem for the Penguins, who have generally relied on scoring from Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the top two lines to keep them afloat while the bottom six grinds away and plays a more defensive game. This year, though, has been different. Ten of Pittsburgh’s 20 goals this season have come from the bottom two lines or a defenseman.
“It’s crucial if you want to have success into the spring and summer,” third-line center Lars Eller said. “You need everybody to do something, add something to the team. I think, right now, one of the reasons we’re getting some wins is because of that.”
After a 6-0 shellacking at the hands of the Rangers to open the season, the Penguins have won three of four and are trending upward. It’s not as though Crosby has played poorly thus far — he’s still over a point per game — but the goals hadn’t shown up until he jammed home Erik Karlsson’s pass at the far post to beat Buffalo.
Malkin is off to one of his best starts ever. His 11 points are his most through a season’s first five games throughout his now-19-year career. But only two of those 11 points have come from Malkin lighting the lamp — an empty-netter to finish off Montreal and the 500th of his career Wednesday night against Buffalo.
The Penguins, though, almost prefer it this way. Crosby and Malkin might not be scoring goals in bunches, but right now, they don’t have to. Coach Mike Sullivan pointed to that balanced score sheet as a potential boon for his team’s stars.
“It spreads the burden of trying to score every night. It spreads it around,” Sullivan said. “It takes a little bit of pressure off those guys. When you can get contributions offensively throughout your lineup, whether it be the four lines or even on the blue line, I just think if you’re gonna contend, it’s required.”
The Penguins also got a couple of slick goals from bottom-sixers Wednesday night.
With the team down 3-1, a flurry of penalties resulted in a four-on-three power play for Buffalo. Noel Acciari made a great play at his own blue line, stripping Dylan Cozens of the puck and dumping it off to Drew O’Connor. The pair carried the puck into their zone on a two-on-one, and O’Connor rifled a laser past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s short side for the team’s first short-handed tally of the year.
The sound of this goal horn is music to our ears 👂👀👂 pic.twitter.com/wIWumGADD7
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 17, 2024
“We have a lot of good players up and down the lineup,” O’Connor said. “We have guys that can score, guys that can play defensive roles and chip in offensively. I think we have guys that are capable of scoring, and I think you’ve seen that early on.”
Jesse Puljujarvi was a healthy scratch Saturday night in Toronto. Still, he’s responded since returning to the lineup with an assist Monday in Montreal and a beautiful goal Wednesday against the Sabres. He handled a bouncing pass from Eller, settled the puck down in front of Luukkonen and chipped a nifty backhand into the top corner for his first goal of the year.
Jesse did that 😱 pic.twitter.com/zsrSTlicHj
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 17, 2024
Puljujarvi looks much more comfortable skating this season after being hampered last year by the remnants of a double hip surgery that put his future in the sport in doubt. If he can continue to contribute and inch closer to his potential, the 26-year-old former fourth-overall pick could be a bright spot for the Penguins.
“I thought the goal was a goalscorer’s goal, and he’s had a few of them,” Sullivan said. “I do think the fact that he’s had a full year and offseason time frame where he’s had an opportunity to continue to build strength, I do think that has helped him, without a doubt. I think his skating is stronger. He’s faster. He’s more powerful. ... And I’m sure his confidence is building because of all those things.”
Kris Letang has two goals from the blue line, and Erik Karlsson and Marcus Pettersson have one apiece. O’Connor, Eller and Kevin Hayes each have two tallies, and Puljujarvi has one.
And even though they play on the top two lines, Anthony Beauvillier and Rickard Rakell factor into this equation, too. Beauvillier, a surprise addition to Crosby’s wing on the top line, scored twice in the team’s first win of the year in Detroit. And Rakell, coming off of an unproductive season he and the team would like to forget, has scored in three straight games, the first time he’s done so for the Penguins.
It all adds up to a much more dangerous lineup for Sullivan to play with — and one the Sisyphean Crosby hasn’t needed to singlehandedly push up the mountain so far this year. If the Penguins want to get back to the playoffs after two seasons away, this will need to continue.
“We’ve been pleased with the production we’re getting from throughout the lineup but the bottom six in particular,” Sullivan said. “These guys are still bringing a conscientious game, and they’ve been able to contribute offensively with some goals that give us a chance to win. That’s gonna allow us to build a chemistry that we need to build in order to become the team we hope to become.”
Around the boards
On Thursday, the Penguins activated goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic from injured reserve and assigned him to the team’s AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning loan. Nedeljkovic left the Penguins’ preseason game in Detroit on Sept. 30 with a lower-body injury and hasn’t played in a game this season, but it looks like his return is growing closer.
It will be interesting to see how president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas manages his goaltender situation. Tristan Jarry was pulled Wednesday night in favor of Joel Blomqvist, who stopped 26 of 28 shots to keep the Penguins in the game. Jarry allowed three goals on his first five shots, including an awful giveaway to Tage Thompson to dig the team into a hole just 43 seconds into the contest.