Andonovski, Zucker rally Penguins past Blue Jackets in OT win

Assistant coach Mike Vellucci was impressed by what he saw from his team throughout the Penguins' preseason opener on Sunday at PPG Paints Arena, even as the Penguins trailed the Blue Jackets by a goal late in the third period.

"This is the first game right after three days in camp, you try to cover everything," said Vellucci, acting as head coach for the first of the two split-squad games. "I think the guys were competing hard and they paid attention to things that we've been able to work on, they did really well."

Trailing by a 2-1 margin with two minutes remaining in regulation, Vellucci pulled goaltender Filip Lindberg in favor of the extra attacker. The 6-on-5 advantage sparked a rally -- Forward prospect Corey Andonovski scored in the final minute to force overtime, and Jason Zucker scored the overtime winner to give the Penguins a 3-2 win to open the exhibition season.

"It's great for the fans, but it was great to see them stick up for each other and try to win the game," Vellucci said. "You know, it's an exhibition game. But it was just fun to see the celebration for sure."

It was nice to see Andonovski get rewarded on the scoresheet too after a strong overall game leading up to that point.

Andonovski, 23, was an undrafted free agent signing out Princeton last spring and is entering his first professional season. He's a big winger at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, and plays a heavy, physical game with some offensive upside. That physicality was immediately evident from the first big hit he laid on his first shift, and he led the Penguins in hits in the game with seven.

"I think he's a big strong player," Vellucci told me of his initial impressions of Andonovski. "He has good speed."

"And the goal he scored," Vellucci continued, "It was beautiful."

That's an accurate description for this shot, set up by a Sam Poulin feed from behind the net:

"I just went to the back door and then saw Poulin had some time going behind the net," Andonovski told me of his goal. "I thought I'd kick out and give him an option. Sure enough, he hit me and I was just able to get a quick shot off and get it up enough to get over the glove."

It was a big goal in the context of the game, tying the score at 2-2 to ultimately force overtime. But it was also a huge goal for Andonovski personally, coming in for his first NHL exhibition game in his first training camp, trying to make an impression before his first season.

"I think the whole game I was just trying to contribute in whatever way, whether it was a hit or shot or a good defensive play, good stick, whatever it was," he said. "That was kind of my M.O. going into this game. And just to be able to get one (goal), it doesn't feel like I'm chasing it anymore. It's good to just get it off my back and go forward."

Zucker capped off the win with the overtime-winner just under two minutes into the extra frame frame. He drove to the net and got pulled down to the ice on his way in, and poked the puck past Blue Jackets goaltender Nolan Lalonde as he went sliding into the post:

"He has a lot of jump in the camp," Vellucci said of Zucker. "In the overtime there, he got a step on the guy. I think his speed looks great. I think he worked hard this summer, he's had a good camp so far. I was really happy for him to get that goal there in overtime. It shows that he put the work in."

Despite getting the game-winner, Zucker wasn't satisfied with his game. He had a couple of scoring chances earlier in the game that he couldn't convert, including off a failed 2-on-0 rush with Kasperi Kapanen.

"I feel terrible," Zucker said afterward, more of a reflection of how he felt with his performance than how he actually physically felt. "But it's the preseason, that's the way it goes. You've got to work through it. I feel likeI didn't make a lot of the plays I should of, but that's the way it goes. We're working through it. It's Game 1, that's why you play preseason games."

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Jon Lizotte scored the Penguins' other goal in the second period, set up by fourth-line center Jonathan Gruden and left wing Jamie Devane:

"It was just a good play up the neutral zone on a transition," he told me of his goal. "I saw a little hole I could jump through and Grudes found me in the slot, I just threw it on net and see what happens."

Lizotte, 6-foot-1 and 212 pounds, had an otherwise strong game. He had a couple of other decent scoring chances, was strong on the penalty kill. He played the right side of the third defense pairing (his off side as a lefty, but a role he's used to playing) alongside Isaac Belliveau.

Lizotte, 27, is a defenseman on an AHL contract with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton who is attending training camp on an invite basis. He made his professional debut in Wilkes-Barre in 2019 and played two seasons with the Penguins on an AHL deal, mostly on the top defense pairing alongside P.O Joseph, before signing a one-year NHL contract with Minnesota last season. He spent the bulk of the year in the AHL with Iowa, but did get called up to the Wild for one game for his NHL debut. When he didn't get re-signed by the Wild, he told me it was an easy decision for him to come back to the Penguins' organization.

"It's great," he said when I asked how it felt being back. "As soon as I'd heard there was an opportunity to come back I didn't hesitate. My other two years here were amazing. I'm happy to be back in these colors and just with all these people in this organization, top to bottom it's really great."

• Forward Kyle Olson really was noticeable in this game, I thought. He's another player on an AHL contract on an invite. He was originally a fourth-round pick of the Ducks in 2017 but never signed with the team and instead signed an AHL deal with Wilkes-Barre in 2020, and is now entering his third season with the team. If you're looking for a player comparison, he's similar to a Zach Aston-Reese-type. He's 23 years old, 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, a fourth-line guy for Wilkes-Barre, reliable defensively and on the penalty kill, and adds a physical dimension. He skated on the right wing of the third line in this game next to Filip Hallander and Sam Poulin, and stood out with a couple of big hits  in five-on-five. I thought he was the most noticeable on the penalty kill, knocking opponents off the puck and clearing the puck out of the zone a couple of times.

• Devane, 31, found a way to make an impression. He's Wilkes-Barre's enforcer, entering his third season with the team on an AHL contract. He's only ever played two games in the NHL, both with Toronto in 2013-14. He's actually not a bad hockey player at the AHL level, I wouldn't call him a "goon." But he has a clear role, and it's using his 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame to add some physicality and drop the gloves every now and then. Looking at the Blue Jackets' lineup, there's only one heavyweight on that side, and it's 6-foot-6, 230-pound defenseman Ben Harpur. The two dropped the gloves in the second period. 

Harpur was injured in the fight. There was a brief delay as the ice crew scraped his blood off the ice surface, and his teammates assisted him in skating to the locker room. It was clear that Devane was immediately concerned, standing there next to Harpur until he was able to get off the ice. He applauded Harpur once he got up. 

Nothing provoked the fight other than being two big guys on the ice at the same time who wanted to show what their role is. I asked Devane if he anticipated the matchup with Harpur before the game just given their respective sizes and roles, and he did.

“I'm gonna go make sure to check he's OK," he said. "But yeah, kind of. I mean it's preseason, everyone's kind of trying to show what they can do.”

It's been fun watching Devane in training camp, just because he's clearly having more fun than anyone being out there. He has a big smile on his face during drills, after drills, all the time.

"I'm just trying to play my game and learn every day," he told me of the experience so far. "It's a top-notch organization so there's a lot of amazing veterans to learn from. I'm just taking it day by day and enjoying it."

Devane is a really respected leader in Wilkes-Barre's locker room, the young players like having him around. Vellucci knows that all too well, having coached Devane in both the OHL and in Wilkes-Barre. He had high praise for what Devane can bring when I asked after the game.

"He's a good hockey player," Vellucci said. "He does all the things right. He pays attention and does all the details. He's a great person. He's tough. It's unfortunate that somebody got injured. But I love Devo."

• Vellucci had praise afterward for Wilkes-Barre coaches J.D. Forrest and Kevin Porter in identifying last season that Poulin should be moved from wing to center. This game was the first in which Vellucci has seen Poulin as a center, and he liked what he saw.

"I think Sam did a great job working on his game," Vellucci said. "He's got that great down-low game. He protects the puck really well. On that tying goal also he protected it well and made a nice pass."

• Casey DeSmith started the game and stopped 12 of 13 shots. The lone goal he allowed was a power play one that he just lost sight of, and left a wide open net in front of former Penguin James Neal:

• Lindberg came in as planned at the midway point and had a strong showing too. He stopped 14 of 15 shots faced. The only goal he allowed came on a Columbus power play. He got a piece of it but it just trickled past him:

I asked Lindberg afterward what he saw on that goal, and he just called it a "bad bounce, that happened pretty quickly."

Lindberg was near-perfect in his Prospects Challenge performance as well two weeks ago, only letting in one goal to the Bruins' prospect. You can't tell that this is his first game action in 10 months after his ankle injury in mid-November.

"I felt really good, had a lot of fun," Lindberg said of getting back into game action. "I haven't played in a long time and it was just a lot of fun to go out there. We played well as a team it was a really good win so it was great."

Lindberg says that he doesn't feel like he's still adjusting to getting his timing back after so much time off. I asked if it was anyway still an adjustment just being out there with 10 skaters in front of him again and he said that it's something he's still getting used to again, but it's not a difficult adjustment.

"Playing a game is a little different than practicing in the summer with the guys," he said. "But it's hockey. You'll get used to it pretty quickly."

• The Penguins outhit the Blue Jackets 43-32. Andonovski led with seven.

• Mark Friedman led in blocked shots, with four.

• The Penguins' top power play unit was Ty Smith, Zucker, Rakell, Drew O'Connor and Kapanen. The second power play unit was Marcus Pettersson, Filip Hallander, Poulin, Teddy Blueger and Valtteri Puustinen. The power play went 0-for-2.

• Really wasn't too impressed with Smith quarterbacking the power play, he looked like he was struggling. It's also hard to put any weight into how these power play units worked together given that they didn't practice together in the slightest before this game. They didn't work on special teams drills during the first three days of camp, and there wasn't even a morning skate given the 1 p.m. start. A lot of these guys haven't played together before, Smith one of them given that he's new. I'd rather wait to see him in a couple more preseason games before I make any big declarations.

• The first penalty-killing unit was Pettersson, Chad Ruhwedel, Gruden and Olson. The second penalty-killing unit was Lizotte, Friedman, O'Connor and Hallander, with Kapanen getting rotated in later on. The penalty kill went 1-for-3.

• Blueger and Ruhwedel served as alternate captains.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Jason Zucker, Penguins F
2. Corey Andonovski, Penguins F
3. Nick Blankenburg, Blue Jackets D

THE INJURIES

• Defenseman Owen Pickering was injured prior to rookie camp. I saw him skating with the team for the first time on Sunday morning, working in a non-contact jersey with the non-game group of players. I believe his injury is a wrist injury, I've seen him around the rink with some sort of brace on his right wrist.

• Defenseman Colin Swoyer left Day 1 of training camp with a lower-body injury. He also skated with the non-game group in the morning in a regular jersey.

• Defenseman Nolan Collins was injured in his OHL team's training camp prior to the start of rookie camp. He told me it is a shoulder injury. He's been practicing with the team since rookie camp in a non-contact jersey, and was still non-contact on Sunday morning.

• Foward Jeff Carter left Saturday's training camp scrimmage early with what Mike Sullivan called an upper-body injury for which he was still being evaluated. I didn't see him out there with the non-game group on Sunday, and Vellucci said after the game that they have yet to receive a report back on Carter's status.

THE LINEUPS

Vellucci’s lines and pairings:

Jason Zucker - Teddy Blueger - Kasperi Kapanen
Rickard Rakell - Drew O'Connor - Valtteri Puustinen
Filip Hallander - Sam Poulin - Kyle Olson
Jamie Devane - Jonathan Gruden - Corey Andonovski

Ty Smith - Chad Ruhwedel
Marcus Pettersson - Mark Friedman
Isaac Belliveau - Jon Lizotte

And for Mark Letestu's Blue Jackets:

Eric Robinson - Jack Roslovic - Emil Bemstrom
Joona Luoto - Victor Rask - James Neal
Yegor Chinakhov - Luca Del Bel Belluz - Kirill Marchenko
James Malatesta - Evan Vierling - Liam Hawel

Ben Harpur - Marcus Bjork
Jake Bean - Nick Blankenburg
Denton Mateychuk - David Jiricek

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins have a scheduled day off on Monday. They'll play the Red Wings at home at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

THE CONTENT

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