Kovacevic: Lineup taking shape ... minus Sprong taken at PPG Paints Arena (Courtesy of Point Park University)

Daniel Sprong and the Sabres' Rasmus Asplund chase a loose puck Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Courtesy of Point Park University

Kovacevic: Lineup taking shape ... minus Sprong

By Dejan Kovacevic

Sep 27, 2018 • 2:37 am

8.8K
eye
0comment-bubble

So, this is how the 2018-19 Penguins will take the ice, right?

Mike Sullivan had been pretty much pleading all through training camp to not have his lines and pairings taken too seriously. And then, as if taken to the point of no return, here's what he sent out Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena for the 5-1 victory over the Sabres in the penultimate preseason game:

Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist

Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel

Simon-Brassard-Rust

Cullen-Sheahan-Sprong

Dumoulin-Letang

Maatta-Johnson

Oleksiak-Riikola

Got some news for you, my friends: Those are the lines and pairings.

Well, except for three gray areas:

• Dominik Simon looks like he'll be a fit on the third line with Derick Brassard and Bryan Rust, as Mike Sullivan and others in the organization have been delighted with their work over the past week, especially the chemistry between the latter two. But Sullivan himself threw Simon's status there in doubt with a remark after this game that lumped Simon among the potential remaining variables.

• Sorry, but Juuso Riikola won't be around, even if Justin Schultz's current upper-body injury lingers. He's been wonderful in all ways -- more on his evening below -- but eight defensemen is two too many, and he's the only one who doesn't need to clear waivers. Plus, from everything I've gathered, management made up its mind even before camp had begun that Riikola would benefit from time in the AHL to adjust to North American rinks. It's fine. It won't hurt him.

• Daniel Sprong really might just sit.

Let's have a little fun. Here’s Sullivan's postgame response when asked about all his options up front:

"I think we're deeper. Certainly, we're deeper this year," the coach began. "If you look at the potential makeup of our fourth line, there's some pretty good hockey players on that line."

To remind, that had Riley Sheahan between Matt Cullen and Sprong.

"And that's no disrespect to players in previous years that have played," Sullivan continued. "But last year, for example, we used Riley a lot in a third-line capacity. So when you have guys like Sheahan and Cullen and ... if we have one of the young kids, if it's Sprong or Simon or Zach Aston-Reese or if it's Derek Grant ... there are a number of options that we have there, depending on who's playing well."

There's the reference to Simon. Also, Sullivan found an amazingly tactful way to not bury Tom Kuhnhackl, Carter Rowney and others who contributed to championships, but I digress.

"I do think our fourth line is a strong line, as well as a versatile line," Sullivan kept going. "They're guys that we can use in special situations, whether they're penalty-killing, where we can use Cully, Sheahan and if Aston-Reese ends up there ... or if Sprong or Simon ends up there, those guys can be used on the power play."

That's the coach yanking his cards back in mid-sentence, I dare say. There's zero need for extra power-play help on this team, and that'd be no reason, regardless, to store someone on the fourth line. The PK is a reason to do that.

"Riley and Cullen are both center-icemen. They can both take faceoffs. I think we can put that line in difficult situations like defensive-zone starts."

Wait, with Sprong?

"If they lose the draw, they're good defenders. They can play against anybody."

Cullen and Sheahan, of course. Not Sprong.

"That's what we like about the makeup of ... the potential makeup of that line right now."

You get the idea: One winger needs to work the left side on the third line, preferably a straight-line sort to make up for Brassard needing that. The other winger needs to support a defensively stout fourth line and help on the PK.

I'm betting Aston-Reese will be one, Simon the other.

And Sprong, to repeat, will sit. Because he'd need to clear waivers and wouldn't. And, infinitely more important, he genuinely hasn't done a blessed thing to earn it.

On this night, one he had to know would be of immense importance for him, he didn't come close to producing a point, took two shots and generally looked as lost as ever away from the puck. On his first shift, he tried a lateral breakout from just inside the Pittsburgh blue line, which happens to be the singular item high atop the Sullivan verboten list. Later, he eschewed the team's conventional breakout and tried to stickhandle around the entire Buffalo franchise in the neutral zone, skating right by both open linemates, and that didn't go any better. And on his final shift, he made yet another lateral pass inside the Pittsburgh blue line, only this one was blind and on the backhand.

In fairness, that last one occurred on the same third-period shift where his left knee collided with a Buffalo player, and he'd eventually leave the ice for good. There was no immediate word on his status, but he went off under his own power and returned for a shift in the final two minutes.

Rough, rough night.

This isn't to pile on, I swear. The kid's 21. He's got a shot release that rates with Patrik Laine's in Winnipeg. He's smart, he's anything but lazy, he can skate, he can pass, he can do a whole lot of things that should have him employed in the NHL for many winters to come. But that doesn't make him equipped to suit up for this team a week from now.

• More on Sprong and other stuff from me and beat writer Cody Tucker on this fresh Morning Java:

•  Credit where due: Under any circumstance, Sprong acclimates beautifully on a power play. He's so comfortable on either point, whether on the left side as a trigger -- he one-timed a screamer off the left pipe on the first man-advantage -- or on the right side, where he was instrumental on Brassard's tic-tac-toe power-play goal without getting an assist. Sprong dipped down low in the zone, Simon spun back to support him, and Buffalo's PK box went kablooey before the finish.

• Phil Kessel's funny, and not just in the ha-ha sense. He was visibly determined from the opening draw to pass at every opportunity, as if lobbying to remain on Evgeni Malkin's line for all eternity.

But when one can snipe like this ...

... one can score a couple goals just by strolling through the neighborhood.

I mean, that second one ... watch everyone else on the rink, including Kessel himself, and they have no reaction. Not to whether or not the shot entered the net, but to the shot itself.

Did Kessel know it caught the back pipe?

"Yeah, I knew," he replied.

Did he think the officials would review it after not calling a goal initially?

"I don't know. I mean, it's preseason. Who knows what are the rules are, right?"

Funny.

Phil Kessel is congratulated on a goal by Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

• The whole second line was solid -- Sullivan called them "really good" -- and notable there was Carl Hagelin, at least as I see it.

Hagelin could provide quite the pivotal factor in offering bona fide top-six left wing depth if he comes through alongside Kessel and Evgeni Malkin. If he doesn't, Aston-Reese might be pressed into that role before ready. Other candidates are scarce, likely involving relocated centers.

It's a different kind of role Hagelin will play, to put it mildly. Different, even, than when he, Malkin and Patric Hornqvist had that terrific run together in January and February of last season. That's because he'll have thick responsibility in all three zones, which is odd for any forward.

He and I spoke for a while after this game, as I asked him to explain.

"It's a different dynamic, for sure," Hagelin told me. "It's just as important for me to get pucks on the forecheck, to disrupt their defense, as it is to be back in our zone."

Actually, he was first on the forecheck all night.

"Yeah, I know," he came back, adding a small smile. "Well, that's how you disrupt."

He also was the net-front guy once possession had been gained. Which makes sense, given his linemates.

On top of that, he was diligent and responsible with the puck, notably with passes in the neutral zone aimed at springing one or both of his linemates. That, too, was a stressing point.

"When you're with those guys, it's important that you're good with the puck. You don't want to just throw it around. You know that if those guys get a good pass, they're going to make something good out of it. And there's usually no excuse to not make a good pass because those guys draw so much attention that you've got room."

All of this sounds exhausting, even for one of the world's fastest humans on ice.

"Nah. It's fun."

• Matt Murray stopped 21 of 22 shots in what might have been his final tuneup -- it'd be strange for Sullivan to send him to the crease-crashing wolves in Columbus for the last preseason game Friday -- and acquitted himself well enough along the way, though not seriously tested a ton.

My save of choice came with a dozen minutes left in regulation, when the Sabres' Taylor Fedun pounced on a giveaway, took a couple quick strides and whipped a low, hard wrister ticketed for the far post. Murray jutted out the right pad like a Rock'em Sock'em Robot to kick it to the far boards.

"That was a good shot, too," Murray told me.

He gave up four total goals in starting two full games.

"We think he's been getting better with each game he's played," Sullivan said without divulging if there will be another. "He's tracking the puck really well. He's seeing the puck. He's controlling rebounds. We think he's tracking the right way, and that's obviously important for us."

"It's been pretty good," Murray said. "I'm just trying to feel a little sharper each time on the ice. That's what you try to do in camp, and take some momentum into the regular season."

• The defense pairings likely remain a work in progress, judging by all the preseason shuffling to this stage, as well as Schultz's injury. All I'll contribute here is that Jack Johnson's looked smooth enough on the right side that he's definitely the one -- not Jamie Oleksiak -- who should be switching over. Even Johnson's breakouts, one of the main motivations for his signing, haven't suffered from his turning the stick to the inside.

• Did anyone tell Kris Letang it was a preseason game, diving back behind Murray to swat away that perilously loose puck in the third period of a blowout?

"Gotta keep Muzz's stats down," Letang deadpanned when I brought it up.

That's actually a superlative play all-around. The Sabres' Vladimir Sobotka has the easiest of tap-ins if Letang doesn't tie him up, but Letang takes it that much further by reaching around for the swat.

• Letang scored on a long-range wrister and, hey, by the way, logged a game-high 23:42 of ice time. And this one meant less than nothing, so take with a whole bucket of salt any of the Penguins' summertime proclamations to the contrary. He'll be out there as often as Jacques Martin believes he's getting the best version of Letang, and it isn't more complex than that.

• Both these teams apparently signed some no-contact agreement before the opening faceoff, which made for a dreadfully passive and dull game, even by preseason standards.

But the memo must not have made its way to Riikola, because he registered six official hits, three more than anyone on either team. What's more, half of those were rattlers, highlighted by this hipcheck on Jason Pominville -- shades of Randy Hillier there, for you longtime fans -- that brought one of the crowd's loudest roars:

What got into him?

"It's a hockey game," he answered me with the same broad smile as ever.

Was he trying to prove something?

"I'm just playing a hockey game."

He won't be in Wilkes-Barre long enough to recognize the hotel clerk on the way out.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY

Penguins vs. Sabres, PPG Paints Arena, Sept. 26, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Show Comments
Loading...
Loading...
Loading sidebar...
0
Show comments for this article