Kovacevic: Puustinen can't be just another youngster the Penguins bury

If Lars Eller lauds an individual for their intelligence, considering the source, that's some seriously lofty praise. He's among the smartest NHL players, on or off the ice, I've ever covered.

But when both he and Sidney Crosby, another player comfortably in that category, somehow cite the exact same two-word term to assess that individual ...

"Hockey IQ," Eller would initially reply on this Monday night when I asked for his impressions of Valtteri Puustinen, minutes after the kid's fifth NHL game saw him produce two primary assists, both beauties, as the Penguins fended off the Wild, 4-3, at PPG Paints Arena. "That's the first thing that comes to mind. He looks like he's played a lot more games than he has."

"He's got hockey IQ, that's for sure," Sid would then reply to a similar question I asked across the room. "You can see it."

Yeah, absolutely. We all can now.

But it really took a while, huh?

Look, I'm not here to run some victory lap over having spent parts of two years pounding the figurative table for this team to promote Puustinen from the AHL. I didn't care what his stats were at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton because it couldn't have been more obvious his specific traits -- the smarts, seeing the rink, even his passing and shooting -- always were the type that'd get magnified at the higher level, wasted at the lower level.

In one of my countless rants on the topic, I equated Puustinen with a fine fourth-grade point guard in basketball, repeatedly serving up passes to ... no one, in only because the other children wouldn't be advanced enough to fathom what he or she's trying to do. 

Well, this ain't elementary school anymore:

That's Reilly Smith's icebreaker halfway through the opening period. And deft as that backhander is behind Filip Gustavsson, the sequence is wholly created by Puustinen not only hustling on the forecheck -- despite the cool veteran Alex Goligoski holding possession -- but also aiming with the one-handed whack to achieve nothing more than popping the puck loose toward Smith.

They still don't give out three assists on a single goal, which is the sole reason Puustinen went without a point on Jake Guentzel's power-play tip that made it 2-0 early in the second:

But he made his mark. He's the one who gained the zone with speed. He's the one who slammed on the brakes and fed back to Sid to start the general setup and, by the time Sid's lateral feed reached Erik Karlsson, Puustinen didn't just plant himself in his low corner for no reason, as we'd been witnessing from this group for the better part of two grisly months. He instead darted to the front of the net, without pushing or prodding, to give Minnesota's penalty-killers more than just Guentzel to cover.

Three minutes later, Evgeni Malkin made it 3-0 with the evening's most sizzling sequence:

My goodness.

Now, save a stick tap, please, for Marcus Pettersson with the one-touch springboard for the two-on-one. But the rest is ... I swear, I don't want to stretch this whole theme too far, but that's an elite distribution from front to finish, the kind we'd most commonly see in the reverse, as Geno's forever been a master at these.

Here, Puustinen read everything around him after receiving Pettersson's feed, realized that he needed to change gears to pull away from Goligoski to carve out a clean lane to Geno and, from there, that he needed to send it across hard enough that Geno'd need to catch and release rather than try a one-timer.

The rookie who's been here a week basically pre-determines how the first-ballot Hall of Famer's going to shoot.

One more?

OK, cool, because this was Sid's winner, snapping a 3-3 tie at 6:20 of the third after the Wild had roared all the way back:

Never touched it. Obviously didn't get another point. But if I'm allowed have a little fun, I'd grant an honorary assist, partly because Puustinen was on the ice for all four Pittsburgh goals, partly because this power play was the worst in franchise history before his arrival, and it's now got six goals in his five games, most in the league in that span. Including a 2-for-4 output in this one.

“It feels good,” Sid would say. “It’s something that we’ve been working on. It’s been a focal point for a while. … Hopefully, it’s a big confidence boost the way it’s been going for us.”

I'd confirm with the captain that Puustinen's had plenty to do with that, beginning with his seemingly instinctive ability to bounce about in different roles. In one instant, he's executing a smooth retrieval after a misfire or block. In another, he's manning the now-impromptu left trigger on the umbrella formation across the top. In another, he's low along the goal line but, again, not just to take up real estate.

He'll whirl and whip it to the net, too:

Remember all my complaining about all the pointless kickouts to the point in such settings?

Nice change of pace there. Keeps the penalty-killers honest. Kills any comfort level.

Overall, that's four points in five games now for Puustinen, while still waiting on his first NHL goal, in addition to 13 shots and a plus-2 rating. He's also been on the ice for 20 more shot attempts for Pittsburgh than for the opponents, a powerful indicator of possession efficiency.

Another way of looking at it, just for this game:

HOCKEY STAT CARDS

Best player on either side. Exactly what the eyes suggested.

And to think, he still hasn't begun gunning the way he can.

"He’s looking to make plays right now," Eller would observe, "but he’s got a really good shot that we haven’t seen a lot of yet. Maybe if he starts getting in more positions to use it, that’s a weapon for him, too. He’s been good, but I think he’s got even more to give.”

All of which, added up, begs this potentially uncomfortable-and-I-don't-care question: What'll it take for the Penguins, notably Mike Sullivan, to allow Puustinen to continue to blossom, as opposed to pulling the plug on him, as happened after an isolated impressive NHL debut two years ago, and has happened with several other youngsters in recent years?

This was Sullivan's assessment of Puustinen after this game, which might be worth every syllable if only for what it could signify for the future: "I think he's been really good. He's an eager, enthusiastic learner, and so, he's gonna get better with every game. He's gonna get better with each experience that he goes through. He's a smart player. He has aptitude for the game. You can see it in the decisions he makes with the puck."

With that, a slight pause, and then: "He's a really smart player, but his enthusiasm to learn is what really excites us about it. Because of that, I think he's going to get better quickly. The mistakes that he does make are usually mistakes of enthusiasm, because he's trying to win a puck battle or whatever. I think he's got a lot of aptitude for the game, and I think he'll get better with every experience that he goes through, and it's our job as a staff to help him along the way. I think his energy and, quite frankly, just his overall performance for us has been really good."

Uh-huh. And when I'd asked Sullivan for an assessment of Puustinen a week ago, among plenty of praise, he strikingly included that it'll be "a steep climb" for Puustinen to become a more complete NHL player. Which in the past has occasionally signified that Sullivan didn't trust that player as much as he would others.

Hey, just sharing. Here's hoping this episode's different all-around. Because this element, the eagerness, the enthusiasm, the ... my God, the actual youth! I'm not kidding when I share that I genuinely can't recall if there's been anyone at all arrive across I-80 who's registered so much as a pulse since Guentzel way back in 2017!

Here, watch this:

When Puustinen flew in from Finland for his first development camp not so long ago, he was terrified of even trying to speak English. Now, he's out-speeching ... well, Tristan Jarry.

Now watch this one, just me and him:

“Every day, it’s a little bit easier for me," he'd beam through that 24-year-old-going-on-12-year-old's smile. "The time I have here, it’s not much, but I know a little bit more guys here, and guys know who I am."

Oh, they know. And the public knows, too. I'll bet there are fans already competent in counting all those Ts and all those Us.

Maybe management knows now, too.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
2. Valtteri Puustinen, Penguins RW
3. Vinni Lettieri, Wild RW

THE IN-GAME INJURIES

• Penguins: None

• Wild: None

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Valtteri Puustinen
Drew O'Connor-Lars Eller-Radim Zohorna
Jansen Harkins-Noel Acciari-Jeff Carter

Marcus Pettersson-Kris Letang
Ryan Graves-Erik Karlsson
John Ludvig-Chad Ruhwedel

And for John Hynes' Wild:

Kirill Kaprizov-Joel Eriksson Ek-Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson-Marco Rossi-Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno-Freddy Gaudreau-Pat Maroon
Brandon Duhaime-Connor Dewar-Vinni Lettieri

Jacob Middleton-Brock Faber
Alex Goligoski-Zach Bogosian
Jon Merrill-Daemon Hunt

THE SCHEDULE

The team's off Tuesday. Next game's Thursday night, right here, against the Hurricanes.

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE FEED

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