Penguins get contributions from most important forwards in opening W

If I would have asked you on Thursday morning to pick six different forwards who you would have liked to see have big games in the Penguins' season opener that night, there probably would have been a few answers more common than others.

Jason Zucker and Kasperi Kapanen, for starters. Both are looking to have bounce back seasons, with Zucker recovering from a recurring core muscle injury from last season, and Kapanen looking to recover from just a bad year.

Beyond those two, you probably would have hoped to see the Penguins' four best forwards -- Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel -- get off on the right foot this season, right?

Sure, it's the Coyotes, a team that will likely be fighting for the best draft lottery odds by the end of the season. It's tough to put a lot of stock into how the Penguins perform against a team like this one. But you couldn't have asked for a better showing from the Penguins' forwards for whom this mattered the most in the Penguins' 6-2 win over the Coyotes Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena.

The Penguins scored three goals in quick succession to open the game -- and the season -- starting with Crosby just 1:22 in off of a beautiful backhand pass from Guentzel from below the goal line, a play made possible by Guentzel racing to the puck to prevent an icing call:

In Crosby's 18 seasons, this is the first in which he's scored the Penguins' first goal of the season, a stat he seemed amused by after the game.

"It took me awhile," he said. "It's nice to get a start and obviously get a win. We're all excited to get going, and it's fun to start it off with that."

Less than three minutes later, Zucker extended the lead with a rocket of a one-timer from the left circle:

Danny Shirey has more on Zucker and what this game meant for him here.

Guentzel extended the lead to 3-0 just 58 seconds later, with Rust and Crosby picking up the helpers on a no-angle shot from the right of the net:

Malkin's goal was the Penguins' lone second-period tally, a power play goal that came after he recovered Crosby's rebound and fired off of a backhand shot from the slot:

Rust scored late in the third, knocking in a loose puck in a scramble in front of the Arizona net:

Kapanen capped off the win, capitalizing off of a 2-on-1 with Danton Heinen and roofing this shot:

"We're just playing on our toes in the first game of the year at home," Crosby said of the team's performance. "I think guys were excited to get going. You could tell we had a lot of jumps. Sometimes you start like that, it doesn't always go in. We had some good looks and buried them."

This was game No. 1 of 82 against an opponent that was not too unlike to the AHL-heavy lineups the Penguins were playing in the preseason last week. It's hard to put too much stock into individual performances like this.

But for players like Zucker and Kapanen who could benefit greatly from the boost of confidence early, they took from this game what they needed. For the players like Crosby and Guentzel, Malkin and Rust who have established chemistry, it showed that the "discombobulation" we saw at times in the preseason wasn't anything more than players getting rid of their summer legs and that the chemistry hasn't gone anywhere.

You couldn't have hoped for much more from this forward group in this one.

JEANINE LEECH / GETTY

Penguins players after the pregame player introductions on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Tristan Jarry stopped 26 of 28 shots faced. He faced a light workload in the first period with only four shots on goal. That doesn't mean that it was an easy workload, because for a goaltender to see action that infrequently is its own kind of challenge, especially when it comes at the beginning of the game.

"I think those types of games present a unique challenge for goaltenders," Sullivan said. "You know, you don't see the puck for a while and then you get a flurry. It's going to test their discipline of focus and just making sure that they stay locked in when they're not seeing a whole lot of pucks. I thought Tristan did that. He made some big saves, especially in the second period. We thought we got away from it a little bit in the second period."

Jarry, for his part, didn't seem fazed by it.

"I think every game is different," he told me. "I think there's no one way to play. Each game is going to come with a little different strategy or challenge. So I think just being prepared and being mentally ready whether you get four shots or the guy at the other end, I think he had 16 or 17. They're both different ways to prepare, it's both a different challenge."

• The P.O Joseph-Jan Rutta pairing made its debut in this game. They weren't on the ice for any goals. When they were on the ice, the Penguins attempted seven shots and allowed nine, and made three shots on goal and allowed five. 

"I thought (Joseph) was solid," Sullivan said. "That pair, we're asking him to be simple, to play smart, to defend well, and use his strengths to defend. P.O's a mobile guy, he's got a long reach. He makes a decent outlet pass. I thought they kept the game simple. They played within themselves. And when they do that, I think that's when they're at their best, they're reliable, they're trustworthy. That's what we're asking of that pair, and I thought they brought it for us tonight."

• The Penguins went 2-for-6 on the power play and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill, with both Coyotes power play goals coming from Nick Ritchie while Marcus Pettersson was in the box"

"I thought our power play was great," Sullivan said. "I think our penalty kill needs to be better. Probably stating the obvious but we gave up two goals on our penalty kill the same exact way. That's an area where we know we can get better. We've got some new guys on our kill that aren't accustomed to killing the way we kill. There's some habits there that we're going to have to instill so that we're predictable for one another. I thought we got caught in between on a couple of them and they ended up finding that open man and the slot. That's an area where we know we can get better."

• Malkin was taking some faceoffs on the power play instead of Crosby. That's not a coaching decision, it's not injury-related. Sullivan lets the players decide who takes them, and Malkin was just having a hot night in the faceoff circle so Crosby deferred to him. Crosby finished the night 7-7 in the dot, while Malkin finished 11-3.

"We leave that up to those guys on who they think is winning the face offs and where they're comfortable," Sullivan said. "Sid, as you know, usually takes most of them. Tonight Geno was hot in the faceoff circle, he was 10-and-2 after the first two periods. So we leave that up to them."

• The Penguins outshot the Coyotes 53-28. If the Coyotes are going to be regularly letting up 50-plus shots a night in their race for No. 1 pick Connor Bedard, give goaltender Karel Vejmelka the Masterton Trophy now because nothing is going to take more dedication and perseverance than playing goal for this Coyotes team.

• Rickard Rakell tied Crosby with seven shots on goal to lead the team.

• Josh Archibald's four hits led the team.

• Jeff Petry led in blocked shots with four, and had an overall strong debut a a Penguin with a plus-2 rating, a primary assist on Zucker's goal, two shots on goal and three hits in 21:39 of ice time.

"He's just a real good player," Sullivan said of Petry. "I think he's a top-2 defenseman on any team in this league. He's a real good player on both sides of the puck. He's a great athlete. His size and strength at the net-front and in the battle areas, and he's real competitive. He's got an edge to his game, I think that helps us in those areas, makes us harder to play against. He brings all the other aspects of the game that complement Penguins hockey. He can make an outlet pass. He's got a bomb of a shot from the blue line. He's got a great one-timer, I thought he was good on our second power play. So he brings so many dimensions to team game. But his size and strength and his physicality certainly helps."

Petry earned the team's postgame MVP helmet for his efforts. We also learned that his new nickname is "J.P." rather than the "Petey" he had in Montreal, since that nickname is already claimed by Pettersson:

• Crosby's three points brought him to 1,412 career points, moving him past Dale Hawerchuk's 1,409 and Alex Ovechkin's 1,410 to move into 20th all-time on the NHL's career points list. It's crazy that as Crosby and Ovechkin enter their 18th seasons, they're that close in career points, and that Crosby has gotten there in 167 fewer games due to injury. Crosby is close to surpassing Doug Gilmour (1,414), Adam Oates (1,420) and Bryan Trottier (1,425) next.

• Per NHL PR, this was the second time in Crosby's career that he recorded three points in a season-opener, having last done it in 2014-15 with two goals and an assist. The only Penguins player to do it more than twice was Jaromir Jagr: 1991-92, 1995-96 and 1997-98.

• Also per NHL PR, the Penguins became just the second team in the NHL's modern era (post-1943-44) to score three goals within the first 5:10 of a season-opener. The Kings scored three in 4:18 in 2005.

• The Spittin' Chiclets Podcast crew -- including former Penguins Paul Bissonnette, Ryan Whitney and Matt Murley -- were in attendance for this one. Celina Pompeani interviewed Bissonnette and Whitney during a television timeout midway through the first period, and instead of answering her question the two took the opportunity to yell into the mic at Crosby.

"Sid! Sid! We talked about this," Bissonnette started. "I said don't beat up on my Coyotes and you score in the first couple minutes? What are you doing!? I see you sipping on your water ignoring me. I'm going to see you in the locker room after the game. We need Whit out there to throw a couple of pizzas to get us back into this one."

Whitney then took over the mic.

"Actually, Sid, you know you wouldn't be the player you are without me, Sid!" Whitney yelled. "You told me that one time! You told me that one time, Sid! Be honest and tell the crowd! Back door on the power play!"

I asked Crosby after the game if he could hear what Bissonnette was yelling, and he chuckled a little.

"Yeah, I heard the start of it, and then I couldn't make out what he was saying after that," Crosby told me. "And then I heard Whit say my name again and then couldn't understand what he was saying. So I figured that they were probably roasting me somehow, just judging by their body language and knowing them. It was fun to see them here. They're a lot of fun to be around, and playing with Whit and Biz here a long time ago there are some good memories, so it's good to see them back."

• Attendance was 18,355, a sellout.

• You know that match game they play on the videoboard during TV timeouts? Where they show a bunch of pairs of symbols, then cover up the symbols with numbers, and a fan needs to remember where the matching symbols were and find the pairs? The pigeon robo-Penguin logo was a symbol in the game this time, surely getting the fans warmed up for the real thing this year on the reverse retro jerseys.

• Speaking of things from back in the day making a return ... chili goals. Really. Just not at Wendy's. If the Penguins score seven or more goals in a game, fans get free chili at Eat'n Park.

• Kind of a funny moment at Jarry's media availability. There had to have been 20 people in the media scrum -- writers, TV reporters, camera people, radio, everyone. Somehow only myself and one other reporter had questions. After he answered the second one there was a long pause and Jarry quips, "A lot of people for only two questions" in his sort of dry delivery. I'm sure he was happy with the light postgame workload.

• Coyotes defenseman Dysin Mayo has the best name in the league, I think. I assume it's a nickname/short for Vacuum Mayonnaise. 

• Before the game the Penguins announced Malkin's "I'm Score for Kids" initiative. Malkin will donate $710 for each of his regular-season points this year to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Pittsburgh and Morgantown, and he will also host families of the RMHC in a suite at PPG Paints Arena 10 times during the season.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
2. Evgeni Malkin, Penguins C
3. Nick Ritchie, Coyotes LW

THE INJURIES

• Forward Teddy Blueger is skating with the team in a non-contact jersey as he recovers from an upper-body injury. He's day-to-day.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Brock McGinn - Ryan Poehling - Josh Archibald

Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph - Jan Rutta

And for André Tourigny's Coyotes:

Clayton Keller - Travis Boyd - Nick Schmaltz
Nick Ritchie - Nick Bjugstad - Matias Maccelli
Lawson Crouse - Barrett Hayton - Christian Fischer
Liam O'Brien - Jack McBain - Zack Kassian

J.J. Moser - Troy Stecher
Shayne Gostisbehere - Josh Brown
Dysin Mayo - Conor Timmins

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins will practice in Cranberry at 12 p.m. on Friday. They'll play the Lightning at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

THE CONTENT

Visit our team page for everything.