Six and a half years after he was drafted by the Penguins, Kasperi Kapanen played his first game for the team when he made his season debut against the Capitals on Tuesday.
After working exclusively with the top two lines in his first full practice the day before, Kapanen debuted on the fourth line alongside Colton Sceviour and Teddy Blueger. He played 10:02 in the 5-4 overtime win, the second-lowest ice time of any forward, a decision made by the coaching staff in order to ease him slowly back into the game after missing all of training camp and the team's first two games with immigration issues.
He wasn't on the ice very often in the win, but he had a couple of good moments during the time that he played.
Let's look back at the film.
The first moment that stands out came with under seven minutes remaining in the first period. Sceviour passed the puck to Kapanen behind the net. For the next five seconds he was able to shake off Nicklas Backstrom, who couldn't keep up with Kapanen's quick skating back and forth. Kapanen then passed the puck back to Sceviour, who took a shot on goal:
The line's next shift came three minutes later. Seconds after Kapanen stepped onto the ice, the Capitals turned the puck over in their offensive zone, and Kapanen recovered it. He flew up ice -- the first time all game we really got a clear look at Kapanen's pure foot speed -- and took a shot on Vitek Vanacek, The puck trickled past Vanacek, and Sceviour tapped it in on the doorstep:
After practice the day before, Kapanen said that he didn't think there would be difficulty getting back up to speed after being off the ice as long as he was.
"I don't think speed-wise, that's ever really been an issue for me," he said.
It didn't seem to be an issue in this game.
We got another glimpse at Kapanen's quick acceleration in a short burst through the neutral zone later in the game. The Penguins forced a turnover and Kapanen turned around to follow the play. When the puck popped out into open space in the neutral zone, you can see just how much quicker Kapanen is in that short period, as he flies forward to regain possession:
Immediately after the Wilson goal, Kapanen jumped forward on the faceoff anticipating a chance to carry the puck up ice, but Sceviour lost the draw and Kapanen got turned around. Even if he hadn't been quick to jump off the draw, it wouldn't have made a difference. Tom Wilson, on the other wing, made it back before any of the Penguins' forwards could catch up and popped the puck over the shoulder of Casey DeSmith:
Kapanen finished the game with an outstanding on-ice shot attempt differential, the best on the team at 82.4 percent. When he was on the ice, the Penguins recorded 13 shot attempts and only allowed three. He was personally responsible for two of those shot attempts, and both registered as shots on goal.
One of his better scoring opportunities, aside from the one that turned into an assist on a Sceviour goal, came midway through the second period when he positioned himself in a net-front role and got tied up with Nick Jensen:
Mike Sullivan was impressed with how Kapanen handled the challenge of jumping right into an NHL game after missing training camp, and only days after being released from the league's mandatory quarantine.
"It's not an easy thing when you've been in quarantine, and you've been skating by yourself back home in Finland but not really being in a team environment for a long time," he said. "He's only had two practices, one with the taxi squad and one team practice. That's a tough challenge for a player. ... Having missed all of training camp, it's kind of set him back. We're going to have to find creative ways to get him up to speed, and (playing him on the fourth line) was one way that we talked about that we think can expedite the process. I thought he played pretty well tonight. You could see his explosive skating ability. He ends up helping out on one of the goals we get. He handles the puck well, he's a good playmaker. He's got a good shot."
Sullivan said that the thing Kapanen is still adjusting to being back on the ice is just his spatial awareness with the other players on the ice, something that's hard to replicate in practice away from scrimmages. or real games.
"We just have to make sure we slowly but surely here get him in shape to the point where we can put him in a position to succeed," he added.
That position, it still seems, will eventually be the top line alongside Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel. Whenever he's ready to take on those big minutes and is comfortable with the Penguins' system, he should bring some serious speed to that line.