Pens/Sabres Recap: Thoughts as the preseason ends

The Penguins had some decisions to make with 23 skaters for 18 spots and they came up with some interesting ones. No Blake Lizotte, no Ryan Graves, no Avery Hayes, no Matt Dumba or Ryan Shea.

Pittsburgh struck first in a controversial way when Philip Tomasino got some help and smashed into goalie Alex Lyon and the puck slid into the net along with the two players. No way that counts in the regular season, when the contact happens way before the puck enters the net, but hey, Tomasino got the idea right to take the puck to the paint hard and got rewarded for it.

Buffalo then scored the next three goals of the game. After the third goal, Dan Muse used his timeout and had some words for the team. That was just after the halfway point, the scheduled time to change goalies, but they elected to leave Tristan Jarry in a little longer to not let his preseason end with a sour note.

Harrison Brunicke halved the Buffalo lead by shakin, baking and working his way down the right side of the ice. He lifted a shot off the back of the Lyon’s shoulder and in. 3-2 game.

Sergei Murashov got into the game, but he didn’t fare much better than Jarry. Alex Tuch took a shot from the outside that slipped through Murashov and sat there for Jiri Kulich to tap in. 4-2 game.

The Pens struck on the power play in the third period to draw the score back within one goal. Rickard Rakell slung the puck to the net, possibly in a centering effort but it ended up going in the net just the same.

That was enough to bring on overtime, though it only needed nine seconds to be decided. Crosby won the faceoff and Karlsson took off through the zone. After a few feints, Karlsson fed a great pass across the ice for Crosby to chip home for an easy goal. 5-4 Pens win.

Some more thoughts to close out the preseason game action:

• We’ll start with Ben Kindel, to lead with popular demand. He had some ups and downs, the biggest down moment was a learning lesson when Kindel got his breakout attempt picked off, and a few seconds later Josh Norris found Tage Thompson for a goal, since Brunicke had already shifted into going up the ice. That’s what Kindel has to learn, make a basic mistake against this type of competition and they will make you pay.
• Semi-related, from seeing the last few Sabres games, Josh Norris looks ready for an incredible seasonthat for any fantasy draft related info that might help. He’s been looking amazing.
• Back to the Pens, the second topic de jour is Brunicke. I was impressed before the goal but that standout moment is going to have to stick in the minds of Kyle Dubas and Dan Muse when they’re discussing who should be on the roster. In 2025, the only defenseman Pittsburgh has that can make the play Brunicke did is Erik Karlsson. I don’t know if the Pens will keep Brunicke for opening night, but it’s hard to imagine him making a better case or so perfectly illustrating what he can add to the team.
• Staying with the defense, the Caleb Jones and Kris Letang pair got trapped in their own end for two and a half minutes on a shift. Just from watching Jones, not sure what they were trying to accomplish or see or even if this will change any minds — but as a prediction the Jones/Letang pairing either won’t last long or won’t be pretty for as long as it goes.
• Similarly, Justin Brazeau with Evgeni Malkin might be a thing since Bryan Rust is out injured for a bit anyways, but that hasn’t really paid off yet with Brazeau bringing much to the table. Not sure how that one is going to go.
• Muse wasn’t happy with his team at the halfway point, and it’s tough to blame him. I think they had 9 or 10 shots total. No line really looked that good. Malkin took a four-minute penalty early in the game, Sidney Crosby took an offensive zone frustrating slashing penalty. Not much urgency, it is preseason, but it wasn’t the most encouraging performance.
• Jarry gave up three goals in his half of the game, two of them that reflected poorly on him. He literally gave the puck away behind the net on the sequence to start the second goal and on the third goal he over-committed to the right side, then was slow to get back over the to left side of the net when the puck went off the end wall. Jarry wasn’t super-sharp tonight.
• Muse made his bones as an NHL assistant that was really good directing a PK, and those PK’s usually had top forwards playing on it. Rickard Rakell was out there again in that role, he hasn’t really killed penalties as a Penguin but I’m betting we’ll see him get put out there regularly for it this year (especially with Rust out of the lineup). Just a little somethin’ to keep in mind for one difference between the last coach and this one. It’ll be interesting to see if that ever extends to Crosby or Malkin, if not as regulars then at least a little bit more situationally when it might be needed.
• Sticking with special teams, the top power play had the modern day unicorn of two defensemen on it (Karlsson and Letang) joining Rakell, Crosby and Malkin. That makes a bit more sense with Rust being gone and will also bode watching for the regular season if that stays together or not. No criticism here, that might be the five top skill players available at this point.
• Right handed Connor Clifton playing the left side (which he did only one time last season) over players like Shea and Graves was a decision worth raising an eyebrow. Even Dumba has been more of a left side guy over his career, but it was Clifton who got the nod tonight. Something has to give since the Pens have a surplus of right shot defenders, and very little quality on the left side. No matter how it shakes out there’s got to be some right shots playing on the left side this season.
• The Pens looked like this game was lost, then Rakell, Karlsson and Crosby stepped in (and emphasis on Crosby) and the game was won. That will have to be a road map a lot this year to get some positive results, one would think. The good news is that Captain Crosby looks as explosive and dangerous as ever.

Just like that, the preseason games are over. The Pens practice tomorrow and are off on Sunday and then prep to fly to New York on Monday a day before the season starts, so the whole training camp is virtually done too. We’ll see if the ups and downs from tonight’s game has any influence to change how the lineup looks come Tuesday night in Manhattan.