Heading into the first game of the California road trip the Penguins went with a new look lineup against the Anaheim Ducks. It wasn’t the best lineup they could ice and it did not earn them the best result possible. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead the Penguins gave up three unanswered goals and ultimately lost by a score of 4-3 on a late Ducks power play goal.
Much like last year the team had issues defending and getting stops on this night. The big difference so far this season is the games, for the most part, have been interesting and entertaining while last year’s version was a slog. Needless to say, a loss is a loss and the Penguins left with zero points despite having a 63.87 xGF% at 5v5.
Special teams continued to be a losing battle. Pittsburgh had no power play goals while giving up two to Anaheim.
It was a Parker Wotherspoon over the glass delay of game penalty with a minute and a half left that opened the door for the Ducks to steal this one late on the power play.
Different look
Heading into the game it was announced that Harrison Brunick would not be playing in this game. It was a planned absence and part of the development plan they have in place
I don’t have any issue with the team playing the long game with Brunicke because I think it is a clear sign they plan on keeping him for the entire year. I won’t lie it took a little bit of the intrigue away from the game for me because a big part of why the Penguins are interesting or he and Kindel.
The fallout from Brunicke being kept out of the lineup was it allowed Matt Dumba and Connor Clifton to get into the lineup for the first time this year.
Brazeau’s hot start continues
Justin Brazeau’s hot start to the season continued on Tuesday night. He scored a minute into the game with his fourth goal of the year in four games played
Here he is talking about the young season with Hailey Hunter
I have no problem with Coach Muse leaning into the hot start while it lasts. Eventually, I would like to see someone with more of a top six skillset for the long term with Evgeni Malkin. When the goals dry up I’m not sure there’s a lot there as far as puck skills and keeping possessions alive in the offensive zone. Who knows? Maybe I’m wrong because I would have never put him on this line in the first place and here he is leading the team in goals
Sidney Crosby continues climb
Sidney Crosby finished the game with two assists which means he now has the ninth-most assists of all-time passing one of his heroes, Steve Yzerman.
He is now 14 assists shy of Adam Oates for eighth all-time.
Here are his two assists from last night. The first was on Rickard Rakell’s homecoming goal
Crosby’s second assist of the night came on Anthony Mantha’s first goal as a Penguin
Crosby now has a goal and three assists on the year in four games.
Penguin killer
Chris Kreider has been a thorn in the Penguins side for his entire Rangers career. Last night, he gave notice that it doesn’t matter which coast he is playing on, he’s going to score goals against Pittsburgh.
After his two goals last night, including the game winner, he is now tied with Alexander Ovechkin with the most goals against the Penguins in the regular season. If you are in Ovechkin’s company in a goal scoring category you are doing something right.
Both goals were scored on the power play.
Here is the game winner
Doing good in the community
Penguins fans know that Bryan Rust suffers from a stutter. This has led Rust to start a program where he hosts other stutterers at Penguins home games.
This has led to Ducks star Leo Carlsson doing similar things out west.
It has had a tremendous impact that has gone beyond Pittsburgh, inspiring Ducks forward Leo Carlsson to start a similar initiative across the country in Anaheim.
“I think for me, I’m really proud of that,” Rust said. “It’s something that was kind of my goal through this, to hopefully get a few more conversations started and a few more people getting involved. I think just seeing him try and take the reins on that as well is really cool, especially because he is still such a young guy. He’s going to go do it for a really long time. So, I think hopefully keep getting bigger and bigger.”
Before the Ducks made Carlsson the second overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, Rust spoke to him over the phone. He offered advice on how to handle the media demands of the league, especially coming in as a top prospect from Sweden.
“I kind of ramped it up a bit through college, and then the American League into the pros. He was obviously a very high draft pick, so there were quite a few cameras on him,” Rust said. “He was kind of thrown into the fire a little bit more, and it’s just like, hey, who cares? Just keep doing it. Keep talking. Just keep being you.”
Both players shared their stories with Liam Niel, a young Ducks fan from Friends, after Pittsburgh’s game in Anaheim last season. Despite getting hurt in a 5-1 loss, Rust still made his way over to the Ducks locker room to join Carlsson for a chat with Liam.
This is great to see. It is such a big deal for kids to see public representation of the things they are going through and having good people addressing them. Great job by both Bryan Rust and Leo Carlsson
Giveaway leads to attendance record
Last night the Anaheim Ducks set the record of attendance at the Honda Center with 17,622. It was their home opener and you also had Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in town, but I have a feeling there was another variable at play
These goalie masks are pretty awesome and I’m jealous of the people who got their hands on one last night. Anaheim should be leaning more into their Mighty Ducks past than they have over the course of their franchise. Recently, they finally altered the logo back to the masked duck. Giveaways like this and the jersey change are a good start. Eventually, they need to go back to the eggplant and turquoise look that was iconic.
Up next for Pittsburgh will be a trip across town to face the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
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