CALGARY, Alberta -- Sam Poulin was asked during the Penguins' training camp how close he thought he was to playing in the NHL.
"I think I could play this year," he said. "But you never know what can happen. Sometimes it seems like it's pretty healthy, so there's not so many spots available."
What Poulin seemed to forget at the time is that this is the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team with perpetual bad injury luck. And after injuries to Teddy Blueger, Jake Guentzel and Jason Zucker early in the season, a spot became available for Poulin after just six games.
Poulin made his debut as the Penguins' third-line center in the 4-1 loss to the Flames Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome. There were certainly both highs and lows to Poulin's game, but the highs were high enough that there's a lot to be encouraged with in Poulin's performance.
Poulin's recall first came on Sunday, once cap space was made available by Blueger's placement on long-term injured reserve. He served as the extra forward in Monday's loss in Edmonton, insurance for the Penguins on a road trip 2,000 miles from home. Zucker was cross-checked in the hip in the third period Monday, and he was questionable to play Tuesday.
Poulin said that he learned just Tuesday afternoon that Zucker would be out of the lineup that night and that he would be making his debut.
"It was certainly crazy," Poulin told me of his day after the game. "During the afternoon meetings, it was probably 12 when I learned it, it was a quick turn of events."
The team immediately made a call to Poulin's family and arranged for flights from their home in Blainville, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal, to Calgary, and they arrived during the game.
The Penguins didn't have a morning skate prior to either Monday's game in Edmonton or this game in Calgary, so Poulin didn't have an opportunity to skate with his linemates Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen before the game. He said he relied a lot on speaking with the veterans before and during the game in order to feel comfortable out there.
Poulin got the customary rookie treatment before the game, taking the solo lap before warmups, a moment that Poulin said his legs were "a bit shaken" for:
If Poulin felt any of those nerves once the puck dropped, they didn't exactly show.
I had asked Sullivan before the game what he was hoping to see from Poulin in his debut, and Sullivan said that they expected to see Poulin "do what he does best."
"He's a good player," Sullivan told me before the game. "He's really developed. He's got good offensive instincts. He's got a strong down-low game. We're excited to watch him play. He's had a really strong training camp to this point, he's had a good start to the season. He's deserving of this opportunity."
Poulin didn't need much time to get settled in. He showed exactly what the Penguins were hoping to see from him early on. He was strong on his feet and skilled at protecting the puck below the goal line on his first few shifts. He was getting to the dirty areas of the ice and showed no hesitation in getting to the net-front, and nearly had a tip-in in the first period. The Penguins also utilized Poulin on the second power play unit from their first opportunity on the man advantage.
Poulin's debut wasn't entirely smooth. He turned the puck over just before time expired on a power play opportunity, and it led to a Flames odd-man rush in the other direction. Nazem Kadri buried a shot just as time expired:
Poulin got called for slashing in the second period, a call that seemed exceptionally weak. Jonathan Huberdeau scored the Flames' third goal of the game just seconds into the ensuing power play.
From watching Poulin extensively in the AHL, he's just not the type of player to take ill-advised penalties. And ever since his turnaround in his game during the second half of last season, he's really not a player who can be expected to turn the puck over often, either. It probably didn't feel good to directly contribute to two goals against in this game, but those instances can be attributed more so to growing pains in adjusting to the NHL, rather than characteristic issues in Poulin's game.
Poulin got a little bit of redemption with the play he made to earn his first NHL point, the secondary assist on the Penguins' lone goal in this game. He had stepped over the boards for his shift and kept his body turned toward Evgeni Malkin as Malkin carried the puck out of the Penguins' end. Poulin carried the puck into the Penguins' end and kept his eyes facing forward, making the Calgary defender think that he would be carrying the pick to the net. He passed the puck to Jeff Carter while looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and Carter took a shot on net. Jacob Markstrom made the initial stop, but the rebound popped out to Malkin, Malkin buried it, and Poulin was credited with the secondary assist:
"I just got on the ice and Geno just passed me the puck," Poulin told me of that play. "I saw Carts in the middle there so I just fed him the puck. Next thing I knew, it was in. It was pretty quick."
I asked Poulin how he would assess his overall play in his first taste of NHL action.
"I think I played good," he said. "You know, it's a different level, that's for sure. You get less time than you do in the AHL. So I think if I get more games I'll get used to it."
In speaking with Sullivan after the game, it sure sounds as if those further games are coming for Poulin. His debut wasn't perfect, but he showed
"I thought Sam played well," Sullivan said of Poulin's debut. "He brought us a lot of energy. Obviously, your first NHL game, you'll never forget those experiences. That's a big deal. We're just really encouraged with how far he's come and how his game is evolving. He's earned the opportunity to play in this game tonight. I thought he had a strong game."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• The Penguins had a historically bad second period Monday. In this one, they took a different approach and got their awful period out of the way early, getting outshot 20-6 by the Flames through the first 20 minutes. There were multiple shifts where they managed to get decent offensive zone time, but it's like "Yakety Sax" was playing in the background. Misfired shots, passes, so many shots getting blocked. They just couldn't get anything to the net. Kadri scored both goals in the first to give the Flames a 2-0 lead.
"Tonight, it wasn't as bad as we thought," Brian Dumoulin said of the Penguins' start. "Obviously, the shot clock didn't look that way. But we had a little bit of push, obviously we need to come out better and do a better job of coming out of our zone, and as D trying to limit their offensive zone time, especially early in periods. Because anytime you do that you're playing behind the eight ball."
Sullivan called the Penguins' start "disappointing."
"Obviously, we don't want to start the way we started," he said. "It was kind of a carryover from the last game. But I really liked the response. After that, I thought in the second period we turn the tide a little bit, we had a lot of chances. We got outscored in the period, that's the irony of it. But I thought the second period we were the better team. So there are some encouraging signs."
• Unlike Monday's game in Edmonton, the Penguins actually did a good job of rebounding from such an awful period, and had a much better performance in the second. They outshot the Flames 20-4, but still managed to be outscored by the Flames 2-1 in the middle frame after goals from Huberdeau, Malkin and Michael Stone.
"We knew we had to spend more time in that offensive zone," Dumoulin told me of what changed between the first and second periods. "We had to be more physical, we had to try to get up as a five-man unit. I mean, they made simple plays on the breakout, all the times it's tough for us to create that always on time. But I thought we did a lot better job in the second and we pushed back."
• It could be said that Casey DeSmith was the reason the Penguins' deficit was limited to just two goals in the first, as he had a number of key glove save throughout that period. He didn't look great in the second. He just has such trouble with long-range shots, and that's not a new problem. He's on the smaller side for a goaltender at 6 feet, but he manages to make himself look even smaller on those kinds of shots. That was evident in the second period on this goal from Stone:
• The Penguins sat P.O Joseph for this game and replaced him with Chad Ruhwedel, a move I thought was curious. Joseph had one of his better games Monday in Edmonton, and was especially strong quarterbacking the second unit. It's also curious given that Ruhwedel is right-handed, and had to slot into the left side of the third pairing alongside Jan Rutta. That's his off side, and Joseph's natural side.
I asked Sullivan what went into that decision.
"Well, Chad's a good defenseman and we want to keep him in the mix," Sullivan said. "We thought it was a good opportunity playing back-to-back, that's not an easy thing to do to bring some guys into the lineup that didn't play the night before. It can bring us some energy, bring us some juice. That was part of the thinking. But Chad's had a really solid camp and has been the player that he's always been for us. We thought he was deserving of getting into the lineup."
Ruhwedel wasn't great in this game. He took two minor penalties, a delay of game minor in the first period and an interference minor in the third. I'm not sure what happened on this first goal, and why both Ruhwedel and Rutta decided to go behind the net:
• The Penguins experimented with two defensemen on the top power play unit in the game in Edmonton, with Jeff Petry getting the promotion to the top unit in place of Jake Guentzel. That top unit didn't look great in that game, so it wasn't surprising to see the experiment end for this game. Rickard Rakell was moved up to the top power play unit, while Petry went back down to the second.
• The in-arena host hyped up the crowd before warmups by yelling, "Anyone here excited to see Sidney Crosby?!" It worked, the crowd cheered for it.
• For those hoping for press box snack updates, I hate to disappoint but the Flames only had popcorn up here. Weak.
• The Saddledome has a catwalk suspended over the ice surface that connects the broadcast booths to the press box. I didn't need to walk across it for anything, but I gave it a shot. I made it this far before turning back:
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Scotiabank Saddledome:
1. Nazem Kadri, Flames C
2. Jacob Markstrom, Flames G
3. Michael Stone, Flames D
THE INJURIES
• Forward Teddy Blueger has resumed practicing with the team as he recovers from an upper-body injury. He's day-to-day, but he was placed on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 11. The earliest he can return is Nov. 5 against the Kraken.
• Forward Jake Guentzel is skating with the team in a non-contact jersey in a limited capacity as he recovers from an upper-body injury. He joined practice toward the end of the session on Sunday, but didn't participate in any team drills and just worked on individual drills at center ice. He skated on his own on Tuesday morning and Sullivan said that he is "making progress."
• Forward Jason Zucker missed this game after taking a cross-check to the side/back area during the third period in Monday's game in Edmonton. Sullivan said before Tuesday's game that Zucker is "day-to-day."
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen - Evgeni Malkin - Jeff Carter
Brock McGinn - Sam Poulin - Kasperi Kapanen
Drake Caggiula - Ryan Poehling - Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
Chad Ruhwedel - Jan Rutta
And for Darryl Sutter's Flames:
Jonathan Huberdeau - Elias Lindholm - Tyler Toffoli
Dillon Dube - Nazem Kadri - Andrew Mangiapane
Blake Coleman - Mikael Backlund - Trevor Lewis
Milan Lucic - Kevin Rooney - Brett Ritchie
Mackenzie Weegar - Chris Tanev
Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
Nikita Zadorov - Michael Stone
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins have a scheduled day off Wednesday in Vancouver, then will practice there Thursday at 2 p.m. Eastern, then play the Canucks the following night at 9:08 p.m. Eastern. The road trip concludes Sunday in Seattle.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
