Nick Bjugstad has had nightmares like this before. He's late for a game, high-tailing it to the arena, already having missed pregame meetings and warmups.
This wasn't a dream, though. It was real life, and Bjugstad and Jared McCann were racing against the clock, trying to make it from Florida to PPG Paints Arena in time for puck drop after being acquired from the Panthers earlier in the day.
Spoiler alert: They made it, and the Penguins beat the Senators, 5-3. But first, let's take a walk through the newest Penguins' whirlwind day ...
10:30 a.m.: Bjugstad and McCann take the ice at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla. for the Panthers' morning skate to prepare for Friday night's game against the Predators.
12:15 p.m.: After eating lunch, and just before their pregame naps, the players begin getting calls letting them know about the trade. Bjugstad and McCann then get calls from Jim Rutherford and Mike Sullivan, letting them know that the plan is for them to play that night. In Pittsburgh. In just a few hours. The game plan from Sullivan is, "Just keep it simple."
3:00 p.m: The pair is scheduled to take off from Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport. Their flight gets delayed, because what this story needed was more drama.
3:59 p.m.: The plane finally leaves Fort Lauderdale and is in the air. Bjugstad and McCann, knowing that if they even make it at all they won't have time for a warmup, begin doing their stretches in the confines of the plane.
6:15 p.m.: After two hours and 16 minutes and 1,045 miles in the air, the plane lands at Pittsburgh International Airport.
6:20 p.m.: Bjugstad and McCann are met by a waiting driver ... and, yes, a police escort into the city.
"Without the police escort, we probably wouldn't have made it in time," said Bjugstad. "We knew we were going to make it at that point."
6:30 p.m.: The rest of the Penguins take the ice for warmups, sans Bjugstad and McCann. Equipment manager Dana Heinze is spotted by the back loading docks, ready and waiting with a cart. They're coming.
6:54 p.m.: Bjugstad and McCann enter the building, along with their bright red Panthers equipment bags. The players are shown on the in-arena videoboard booking it from the back entrance of the arena to the locker room on the other side of the building. The crowd erupts in cheers.
7:03 p.m.: Jeff Jimerson begins the opening strains of "O Canada" just as the newest Penguins rush down the tunnel -- sharing a single can of Red Bull between the two of them -- and join their teammates on the bench.
"They didn't even have time to say anything," Bjugstad said of the coaches. "It was just the anthem, then there was a few things said on the bench, 'Just keep it simple.' That's what we did."
7:08 p.m.: The anthems wrap up, and Bjugstad and McCann step on the ice for not more than a few seconds to stretch their legs. That's their warmup. The puck drops.
Phew.
Bjugstad made his debut first, centering the second line of Bryan Rust and Phil Kessel in Evgeni Malkin's absence. McCann is next, centering the third line between Tanner Pearson and Patric Hornqvist.
The Penguins weren't shy about fully utilizing their new acquisitions. Bjugstad played 16:13 of ice time, including :46 on the power play. He was credited with two shots, three hits, two giveaways and one takeaway. He earned his first point as a Penguin with the secondary assist on Rust's second-period goal. He went 10-7 on faceoffs, and took one minor penalty.
McCann played 10:07 in his debut. He was credited with three shot attempts, one of which made it to the net. He went 7-4 in the faceoff circle, and took the other minor penalty in the game.
One of the biggest upsides of Bjugstad and McCann is their versatility. Both are capable and comfortable in both the center and wing positions, which gives the Penguins options moving forward.
Looking at the advanced possession stats from the A3Z Player Comparison Tool, these players are strong upgrades over Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan. These metrics show that in terms of shot contributions, offensive zone entries, and defensive zone exits, Bjugstad has been outperforming Brassard, and McCann has been outperforming Sheahan over the past three years.
Despite their not having any preparation other than some plane stretches and the "simple" message, Sullivan's early impressions of the new additions were positive.
"I thought they had strong games tonight under difficult circumstances, coming in on two wheels at the end of the warmup," Sullivan said. "I thought they did a terrific job under really, really tough circumstances. We're really excited about both guys, they're both good guys. I think they're excited to be Pittsburgh Penguins."
Listening to both players speak after the game, they do sound genuinely thrilled to be in Pittsburgh.
"I'm very excited, I'm happy to be a part of this organization," said McCann. "I'm very looking forward to the future here."
Adding two guys who are not only thrilled to be here, but suitable for the positions and roles in which they'll be playing, can be huge for the team dynamic.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THREE STARS
My curtain calls go to …
1.Bryan Rust
Penguins right winger
Two huge goals -- a huge shot from the slot in the second period, and the eventual game-winning goal in the third. He led the Penguins tonight with nine shot attempts in 5-on-5 play.
2. Teddy Blueger
Penguins forward
After biding his time in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for two and a half seasons, you have to be happy to see Blueger get his first NHL goal in just his second NHL game. More on his night below in The Good.
3. Jake Guentzel
Penguins left winger
Four attempts, three shots, two goals. His late third-period goal -- his 26th of the year -- stopped any hopes of a Senators rally.
THE INJURIES
• Evgeni Malkin is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will miss Saturday's game in Toronto. More on that here.
• Justin Schultz, defenseman, has been out since October with a fractured leg. He took a big step on Thursday when he participated in practice in a no-contact jersey.
• Zach Aston-Reese, right winger, is out with a broken left hand.
THE GOOD
Blueger is showing why he deserves to play at this level.
Yes, he scored his first NHL goal on his first NHL shot. It was a beautiful goal, too. Bar-down. Looking at it now, you wouldn't be able to tell that Blueger is a guy who was seriously unhappy with his shot release at the beginning of the season:
But wait, there's more!
After playing just 6:22 in his debut against the Lightning, he earned more time -- 10:42, to be exact -- to show his stuff against the Senators. Blueger's biggest strength has always been his two-way play, and he was in top form tonight. His backchecking led to that first goal (see the play at the blue line above), and prevented a goal later in the game as well.
Sullivan has mentioned a few times now his desire to get Blueger involved in the penalty kill. The Penguins only took two minor penalties tonight, so there weren't many chances for Blueger to get involved. He was on the ice for 28 seconds of the third-period Bjugstad penalty. He came out on the wing for a neutral zone faceoff, and was only on the ice for one shot against in that span.
Remember when Blueger said one of his main focuses here was to finish his checks? He was tied with Pearson for five hits tonight -- the team lead, and two more than any other player.
"He's a really smart player," Sullivan said after the game. "He's really solid defensively, his details are great. I thought he had a great game tonight, not just because he scored. He had a real good 200-foot game."
From watching Blueger tonight, you wouldn't be able to tell that he hadn't played wing for a full game since college. He slid into his new role with ease. Sullivan praised his versatility after the game, adding that Blueger being a natural center is a bonus, because of his ability to take draws, if needed. Having a natural center on the wing like that allows the game's center (in this case, Matt Cullen) to be more aggressive in faceoffs. If the first center gets kicked out of the faceoff dot, there's a capable backup waiting (literally) in the wings.
When the Penguins are fully healthy, it will make for some tough lineup decisions. For now, Blueger is right where he belongs.
THE BAD
There wasn't much.
The Penguins went 0-for-2 on the penalty kill. Not ideal, but not the end of the world. As bad as the Senators are as a team, the power play unit is actually pretty decent, ranking 10th in the league at 21.4 percent.
On the second power play goal though, man, Jack Johnson had it. Olli Maatta picked up a loose pick from a rebound chance and slid the puck to Johnson, who just wasn't able to clear the puck:
He tried shooting it around the boards, and turned it right over to Mark Stone. Stone passed it to Mikkel Boedker for the goal.
THE PLAY
How about either of Rust's goals?
He'll disappear for stretches, but when Rust is on, he's on.
"His two tonight, those were goal-scorers' goals, the bar-down goals that are tough to stop," Sullivan said. "He's playing well. He's a guy that tends to be streaky. But when his confidence is high and he's feeling it out there, I think he's really noticeable."
THE CALL
Sullivan made the call to shift Guentzel up to the first power-play unit in Malkin's absence, the same number of forwards and the same formation used in practice Thursday. Bjugstad took Guentzel's place on the second unit.
The Penguins' power play was a weak spot in the win. Through four minutes of total power play time, the Penguins generated seven shot attempts, five of which made it to the net. Hornqvist generated most of the attempts for the first unit, with three, all of which made it to the net, in 2:19.
Guentzel recorded no shot attempts himself on the power play. The top unit was responsible for allowing the only shot against on the power play.
THE OTHER SIDE
The bright side for the Senators is that the loss didn't hurt their positioning in the standings, because they're already at the bottom. They now have a record of 19-27-5, and have lost three consecutive games.
Their star was undoubtedly Matt Duchene, who split the pairing of Johnson and Marcus Pettersson and went off to the races for a huge third period goal that cut the Penguins' lead to just one. Duchene ranks second in scoring on the Senators with 21 goals and 27 assists in 42 games.
Duchene is in the final year of his contract, and will assuredly be traded before the deadline unless contract extension talks take a turn in the right direction soon. Stone, the Senators' leading scorer with 22 goals and 29 assists in 51 games, is in an identical situation. Once a decision is made on those two players, some of the biggest trade-bait in the league this deadline, the rest of the trade dominoes around the league will begin to fall.
The Senators will take on the Red Wings (20-25-7), another team in the league's basement, Saturday at 7 p.m. in Ottawa.
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are in Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs at 7:10 p.m. They have a scheduled day off Sunday, then will practice in Cranberry at 11 a.m. on Monday.
The next home game is Tuesday, 7:08 p.m., against the Hurricanes. It'll be 80's theme night at the arena. There will be a DeLorean at the arena and everything. This is heavy.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our Penguins team page for everything.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Senators, PPG Paints Arena, Feb. 1, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS