Erik Karlsson said that he wasn't "too weirded out" over his first game in a Penguins uniform.
"It's definitely a little bit of a different feeling," he noted following the Penguins' 3-1 win over the Sabres at PPG Paints Arena on Friday. "Especially in warmups and stuff, being on the other side. But it felt pretty natural to me, actually. Every since I got here, I've been welcomed in the best way possible by everyone. It feels like home. I'd say overall, it felt pretty normal and pretty good."
Thursday's win was the closest thing the Penguins have had to a dress rehearsal since training camp opened, with most of the anticipated NHL regulars playing their first games of the exhibition season. And while there's still quite a bit of work to be done before the season opens against the Blackhawks on Oct. 10, there were some glimpses on Thursday of what can be expected of Karlsson and the rest of the new-look blue line.
The top two pairings on Thursday were the same that the Penguins have been using since the start of camp -- Ryan Graves paired with Kris Letang, and Marcus Pettersson with Karlsson. For a first real game together, both pairings had a decent -- albeit quiet -- night.
The top two pairings logged similar minutes at five-on-five, with the Pettersson-Karlsson pairing being on the ice together for 14:59 at five-on-five and the Graves-Letang pairing together for 13:40. The Pettersson-Karlsson pairing wasn't on the ice for any goals for or against, but the Penguins controlled the play when that duo was on the ice. With Pettersson-Karlsson together at five-on-five, the Penguins controlled 64.10% of all shot attempts (25-14), 58.06% of all unblocked shot attempts (18-13), and 73.80% of the expected goals share.
Karlsson wasn't happy with his own debut, just calling it "OK," which would prove to be the kindest of adjectives he used to describe his own night. He said that his timing "wasn't horrible." His skating was only "decent." His handling of the puck was "not so good."
There were a couple of times when Karlsson got caught out of position, or lost a player he was covering. But the skill was evident, and his partner effused praise where Karlsson didn't.
"You see the high-caliber player he is," Pettersson observed of Karlsson. "He's up on every play, but he's the first guy back usually too (laughs). There was a couple of times that he was in the corner (in the offensive zone) and he's still the first one back. It's nice to get to know each other's tendencies. He's a great communicator out there."
The Penguins other top pairing had a quiet night as well. The Graves-Letang pairing was on the ice for a goal in each direction -- Rickard Rakell's wrist shot to open the scoring, and Tage Thompson's lone goal for Buffalo. Results were pretty even with them on the ice, with the Penguins controlling 52% of all shot attempts (13-12), 55.56% of all unblocked shot attempts (10-8), and 47.10% of the expected goals share.
Mike Sullivan's initial impressions of both pairings were that they were a microcosm of the entire team's game -- they had their share of good moments, but they had moments where they were sloppy, too. But that's to be expected for their first game in months, and first game with new partners.
"I think Marcus and Erik have the potential to be a real solid pair for us," Sullivan said when asked about that pairing. "I think the more they get to play with one another, they'll get a little bit more comfortable. There's a lot of chatter on the bench between those guys. Same thing with Ryan Graves and Tanger. These guys have to work through some of the challenges until they get to know each other's tendencies and have the ability to read off each other. But I thought they had moments when they were really good. They made some nice plays. They helped us with some clean exits."
Those "clean exits" are to be expected from Karlsson and Letang. Looking back at last season, the micro-stats website AllThreeZones recorded Karlsson at 9.89 successful defensive zone exits per 60 minutes at five-on-five. Letang led the Penguins in that category at 8.43. In particular with Karlsson, it's not that he was just attempting a lot of zone exits to bolster their numbers, he was just consistently exceptionally good at them. According to the analytics company Sportlogiq that tracks micro-stats, Karlsson had the second-highest success rate of controlled zone-exits at five-on-five at 76.3%, trailing only Roman Josi's absurd 92.5%.
"I think when you look at guys like Erik – and I think Kris is the same way – those guys, they’re one-man breakouts sometimes," Sullivan said. "They can create separation from the forecheck, they can hang the first forechecker on the post and use the net. They just drive offense by giving us clean exits."
All four of the Penguins' top defensemen logged significant time on the special teams units. Pettersson and Graves were two of the Penguins' more regular penalty-killing defensemen, with Pettersson working alongside Chad Ruhwedel and Graves alongside Ryan Shea. They limited the Sabres to four shots on goal and only five unblocked shot attempts in just under six minutes of shorthanded time. Both Pettersson and Graves also saw time with the second power play unit.
The Penguins had both Karlsson and Letang on the top power play unit. They went 0-for-3 on the man advantage, but the power play looked better than it has in a long time. It was a more dynamic power play -- it felt like there was more movement in those few minutes on the man advantage than we saw all last season combined from that unit. When there's more movement, it allows for those high-end skilled players to rely more on their instincts, and that's what causes the power play to be successful.
Sullivan said that the coaching staff didn't change much scheme-wise with that group. Rather, it's the personnel that makes it different.
"To have two defensemen on it is a little bit of a different look and a different feel," Sullivan explained. "Erik and Tanger are both really active. I think you’re going to see a lot of movement from those guys. We're trying to give them a framework that allows them to be predictable for one another, but we're also trying to give them some latitude to work within that framework and act on their instincts."
Karlsson wasn't too pleased with the power play's performance in this game, for obvious reasons. The results weren't there. They only recorded four shots on goal on six attempts in those three opportunities, and of course didn't score. But he liked what he saw from the movement as well, which seemed to increase with each opportunity.
"The first power play we had, that was botched," said Karlsson. "The short second one, you could tell that we were a little more comfortable. Whoever was carrying the puck was carrying the puck with pace, and other guys were just filling spots. We got in OK and moved around pretty good. I think overall, those things are going to get more dialed in as we move forward here."
The Penguins have three more games left in the exhibition season to get "dialed in," and a major part of that will be the top two defense pairings continuing to get familiar with each other.
"It was a good first preseason match," Karlsson said. "The guys, we had a pretty good team. It felt good to be out there with everyone and just get familiarize at least. I think as we ramp up here and get closer to the season, I think the pace is going to change a bit and pick up to where you want to be at."
Jeanine Leech / Getty
Tristan Jarry makes a save on Zemgus Girgensons Thursday at PPG Paints Arena
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Drew O'Connor, Penguins LW
2. Rickard Rakell, Penguins LW
3. Tage Thompson, Sabres C
THE INJURIES
• Defenseman Mark Pysyk is out "longer-term" with a lower-body injury. Sullivan on Tuesday wasn't sure how the injury would affect Pysyk's future with the Penguins, given that he is on a professional tryout contract.
• Forward Jake Guentzel is sidelined after having right ankle surgery to repair an issue sustained late last season. He is expected to miss somewhere around five games to start the season and has been skating on his own.
• Defenseman Will Butcher is sidelined with an undisclosed injury. He is skating on his own.
• Forward Raivis Ansons is dealing with an upper-body injury sustained in the last month of the AHL season. He is skating on his own.
• Defenseman Nolan Collins is sidelined after offseason wrist surgery after an injury sustained late in the OHL regular season. He has resumed skating on his own
• Defenseman Owen Pickering is dealing with a lower-body injury (believed to be an ankle injury) sustained during offseason training. He has resumed skating on his own the Penguins are hopeful he will be able to participate in training camp at some point.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Reilly Smith - Evgeni Malkin - Alex Nylander
Drew O'Connor - Lars Eller - Matt Nieto
Austin Wagner - Noel Acciari - Jeff Carter
Ryan Graves - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea - Chad Ruhwedel
And for Don Granato's Sabres:
Jordan Greenway - Tage Thompson - Zach Benson
JJ Peterka - Casey Mittelstadt - Brandon Biro
Viktor Neuchev - Tyson Kozak - Filip Cederqvist
Zemgus Girgensons - Jiri Kulich - Isak Rosen
Ryan Johnson - Jacob Bryson
Nikita Novikov - Zach Metsa
Riley Stillman - Kale Clague
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins practice at 11 a.m. in Cranberry on Friday then fly to Halifax afterward. They have an off day in Halifax on Saturday, then practice there on Sunday. They play the Senators at the Halifax Mooseheads' arena on Monday.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
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