Let's get it out of the way: Dominik Simon scored a goal.
Yes, it's still the preseason, but it was a goal. No, it wasn't an empty-netter. No, it didn't bounce off of him. He scored a real goal. The game-winner in the Penguins' 4-2 preseason victory over the Red Wings, Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena:
Crash the net and good things happen.
Nice one, Dom. pic.twitter.com/Els1ITznvF
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 26, 2019
"We just broke out from our zone, Zach [Aston-Reese] was there in the middle supporting," Simon told me of the play after the game. "So we just went three-on-two and tried to talk to each other. He made a nice shot and just went to the net and it bounced close to me. So I reached it and put it in."
It wasn't the prettiest of goals. If anything, it was a pretty dirty goal.
Of Simon's eight goals last season, six came from those high-danger areas of the ice, but only one came from a rebound attempt. While Simon produces a lot of his own attempts (13.06 per 60 minutes last season, fifth-most among Penguins forwards who played the full season in Pittsburgh), he could be better at capitalizing on the rebounds that come off of others' attempts. That's an area of his game he wants to improve upon.
"It's part of the game to focus on those little goals coming from that area, so we'll keep that in mind and remember where it goes in, and try to do it again," he told me.
Simon spent this game on the right wing of the fourth line with Aston-Reese and Teddy Blueger, and it seems like the wing is where he will stay. He's played center earlier in his career, and spent time at center during this training camp and preseason. But when I asked, he said he is more comfortable at wing.
"Almost my whole pro career I've played winger," he said. "Before I used to be center. It's a little bit crazy position, nothing crazy different. But I feel like I have more habits for the wing."
When Mike Sullivan spoke on Simon after the game, it sounded like he had no plans for Simon to remain at center.
"We tried him at center because he's played there before," Sullivan said. "We think he's a better wing for the group that we have. But we're just trying him in different aspects of the game to see where we think he best fits into this group of players that we have."
Whether Simon fits in on the top line or the fourth line, he doesn't believe he needs to make adjustments to his game based on where he is in the lineup.
"We have a bunch of great players, so it doesn't really matter where you play," he said. "The system is similar in every line. You have to adjust a little bit, it depends on where you're at. But we have a lot of great players, so it doesn't really matter."
Sullivan isn't looking for Simon to change the way he plays either, and offered pretty significant praise.
"I think Dom understands how we're trying to play and he understands what he brings to this team," Sullivan said. "We're not asking him to change, regardless of what line he plays on. Dom's a good hockey player. He's strong on pucks, and I've said this on a number of occasions, probably next to (Sidney) Crosby, he might be the stiffest guy we have when he gets over pucks. He's good in battle areas, he's got a 200-foot game."
One goal in the preseason shouldn't be this noteworthy, but people like to talk about Simon's lack of production. People say that he should have more goals for someone who's played with Crosby. He spent less than a third of his ice time last season alongside Crosby, and when he was there, he was a half-a-point-per-game player. When it comes to setting up his teammates, only Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Jake Guentzel, and Kris Letang had more assists (and more primary assists) than Simon five-on-five.
While his lack of production may be a bit overhyped, Simon would obviously like to score more himself. He told me that this summer his shot was one of his main focuses for that reason. I asked Simon if this goal helps his confidence in that shot heading into the regular season.
"For sure, it's always nice to score goals," he said. "Definitely got to keep going, got to focus on the game, and hopefully more will come."
• The Penguins' other goals came from Brandon Tanev, Bryan Rust and Crosby.
Guentzel ➡️ Schultz ➡️ Tanev ➡️ ? pic.twitter.com/dpF97xmlYH
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 25, 2019
Trusty Rusty with the tally.
Schultz and Malkin with the helpers. pic.twitter.com/oDDqbdsBzp
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 26, 2019
It's Sidney-Crosby-is-scoring-goals season.
(it's a long season) pic.twitter.com/SdTyRHrxtr
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 26, 2019
• Forward Ryan Kuffner scored for the Red Wings. The 23-year-old was signed out of Princeton last spring and played 10 games with Detroit to finish the season. He'll likely play for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL this year. The other Red Wings goal came from defenseman Mike Green. Yes, the same Mike Green. He's still around, and will turn 34 next month.
• Justin Schultz picked up two assists after his blasts from the right point were redirected by Tanev and Rust. Dave Molinari has more on Schultz here.
• Matt Murray played the full 60 minutes for the Penguins, and made 26 saves on 28 shots. Jonathan Bernier played the full game for the Red Wings, and stopped 28 of 32 shots.
• The Penguins used top power play combinations of Crosby, Schultz, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, and Schultz, Letang, Crosby, Malkin, Patric Hornqvist.
• Wilkes-Barre/Scranton played its preseason opener on Wednesday, a 4-1 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Jordy Bellerive scored the Penguins' lone goal.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE INJURIES
• Alex Galchenyuk, forward, was held out of the game with what Sullivan called a "nagging" lower-body injury. Sullivan said the Penguins chose to "err on the side of caution." Galchenyuk skated in the morning skate on Wednesday.
• John Marino, defenseman, is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. He participated in Wednesday's morning skate.
• Adam Johnson, forward, is dealing with an upper-body injury and has no timetable to return.
• Zach Trotman, defenseman, underwent sports hernia surgery and is out "longer-term."
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Brandon Tanev
Dominik Kahun -- Evgeni Malkin -- Bryan Rust
Jared McCann -- Nick Bjugstad -- Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese -- Teddy Blueger -- Dominik Simon
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson -- Justin Schultz
Juuso Riikola -- Erik Gudbranson
And for Jeff Blashill's Grand Rapids Griffins Red Wings:
Adam Erne -- Valtteri Filppula -- Taro Hirose
Darren Helm -- Luke Glendening -- Justin Abdelkader
Givani Smith -- Jacob de la Rose -- Ryan Kuffner
Matt Puempel -- Turner Elson -- Chris Terry
Trevor Daley -- Moritz Seider
Patrik Nemeth -- Mike Green
Joe Hicketts -- Oliwer Kaski
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will practice in Cranberry at noon Thursday. They're scheduled to practice there again Friday at 11 a.m., and will conclude the preseason with a 4:08 p.m. game at home against the Sabres on Saturday.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our team page for everything.
