Kovacevic: Kids promising, but they won't be Sullivan's October surprise

Radim Zohorna should've had himself a terrific night -- timely goal, two shots, plus-1 rating, relentless skating -- and, in the process, should've made a positive impression on the Penguins' evaluators still ruminating their final few roster calls of this training camp.

I'm just not so sure he did. In fact, I'd seriously doubt it.

See, the main exhibit was solid ...

... as he capped a sweet but semi-bouncy Kasperi Kapanen saucer for a tying goal in the third period of what wound up a 5-4 shootout victory over the Sabres on this Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. And he did so with the soft touch, the uncommon speed within a 6-foot-6 frame, the cool, the confidence and all else that's come to be expected since his arrival from the Czech Republic a couple years ago. 

But here's the thing: Although he's 25, a bit old for an NHL rookie, he's still learning the North American game, and he's still learning the Mike Sullivan game.

A period earlier, he'd burst out of the Pittsburgh zone along the left boards. A good head of steam, no less authority and his head up the whole way. Only he wasn't alone, as a Buffalo forward had tracked back and an aggressive defenseman approached. And from there, as I saw it, Zohorna'd been left with three options:

1. Get to center red and dump
2. Do something really dumb
3. Morph into Mario Lemieux

I wouldn't be describing this if he hadn't done No. 2, which would take the form of a lateral pass right onto a waiting Buffalo blade for an instant counterattack. The kind that all head coaches hate, and yet the kind that Sullivan still might hate more than anyone alive.

So yeah, I had to ask.

"I think I made some bad decisions in this game," Zohorna replied, to his considerable credit, when I broached it. "That's what I need to do better the next game."

The Penguins' 2021-22 season opens a week from now, next Tuesday in Tampa, minutes after the Lightning raise another Stanley Cup banner to the roof of Amalie Arena. Two days later, across Alligator Alley, they'll face maybe the Eastern Conference's next-best team in the Panthers. Within the week and a half that follows, they'll see Marc-Andre Fleury and the Blackhawks, the 2020 Cup finalist Stars, the high-octane Maple Leafs, and then the Bolts again.

Believe it or not, those events and the Zohorna mistake are big-time related. Because, unless Sullivan's brain was swapped out over the summer, he'll have no wish to send anyone over the boards who he'd think might be a risk to do something like that. Not for a solitary shift. 

Certainly not with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin out, and with Jake Guentzel maybe out pending his coronavirus status.

"If we're going to have success, we're going to have to play a stingy game," Sullivan began his response to my question on the subject. "It's going to take a collective effort. And attention to detail. With some of the game-breakers who aren't in our lineup right now, we can't look to those guys to be the difference. We have to build a team game that's going to give us the best chance to be successful."

Meaning the 200-foot thing, of course. It's defending all over the rink, essentially. Fight like hell for the puck, then fight just as hard --mostly mentally -- to keep it. Doesn't matter where.

"I do think this situation's going to provide opportunities for other guys to step up," Sullivan continued. "But it's not about highlight-reel goals. It's about playing the game the right way. Making good decisions. Being strong on the puck. Being on the right side of the puck. Winning the puck battles. The wall play. The net-front play. All of those little things add up to winning. That's the type of game we'll have to develop."

It's difficult to dispute, right?

Well, then, remember that when the roster's set. And when the opening lineup's set. Because I'd bet anything right now the players who'll suit up will be the ones fitting that mold, all other criteria be damned. At least until one or more of the stars start spilling back onto the ice.

In other words, Dominik Simon's got a far better chance of playing in October than Zohorna does. Or even Drew O'Connor, despite his two goals in this game and generally impressive strides.

Why?

Because Simon does all that stuff the coach just cited. And because, in turn, the coach couldn't care less if he scores but a handful of times all season. And because, in turn, the coach loves him. Not as a teacher's pet, but as an A-plus student in the teacher's curriculum of choice.

Brian Boyle will dress, too.

Why?

Because even though he's skating through spaghetti in this camp, he knows what to do, where to be and how clean up a defensive-zone draw. Which O'Connor, by the way, didn't do on a Buffalo goal in this game.

Really, I'm just trying to brace everyone. It's coming. There'll be precious few, if any, youngsters in the early going.

That goes for the blue line, too, and here's an example from this game to illustrate:

Remember that Sullivan noted net-front play?

That's P.O Joseph failing in every way to move the Sabres' John Hayden while Anders Bjork whips home a shot from the left point to tie, 4-4, in the third. Hayden's a tough dude, in addition to standing 6 feet 3, 215 pounds, and Joseph, despite being 6-2, gives up 30 full pounds in the matchup. And it's the type of matchup he's lost repeatedly in this preseason.

Which isn't to suggest that much more would be expected in this facet from Chad Ruhwedel or Mark Friedman, obviously. But one of those two right-handers -- ideally Ruhwedel with his experience -- will partner with Marcus Pettersson on the third pairing. It won't be Joseph. And not just because he's left-handed.

I'm not here to cut up the Penguins' kids again, I swear. Everyone knows the state of the system and, even then, I've got at least mild hope that a few of them will poke through and contribute. But it won't be now.

If this script feels familiar, it should. And not just because Malkin, in particular, has missed so much action at this stage of his career. Early in the 2019 season, the Penguins opened up with a bunch of injuries, including Malkin and Bryan Rust, and embarked on a two-game trip through St. Paul and Winnipeg -- back-to-back weekend nights, actually -- that should've gotten them buried. Instead, they overwhelmed the Wild and Jets by scores of 7-4 and 7-2. And as I can attest from covering those, it happened through that 200-foot thing. The opponents' coaches and players raved on both nights about how they'd been grossly outworked.

That's what Sullivan ... I was about to say loves, but I'll instead go with embraces. He clearly couldn't love being without two generational talents. But he does seize every opportunity he gets to pound his system into every player when one or both is out.

Take it from the only available member of the Core:

"They're world-class players, they're the two best players on our team, and they bring so much offense," Kris Letang replied to my question on this. "But we have to pdo it with 22 guys now, battle as a team, and make sure we play a nice, structured game. I think we'll be fine. We have guys who know how to win. They know the recipe."

Novice mistakes won't be in that mix.

As Sullivan spoke, in general, of the evening, "The execution, I think, still isn't where we need it to be. I thought, for the most part, the game was sloppy. We didn't take care of the puck between the blue lines like we need to. We see the structure of our game starting to evolve. Now, the next step is the execution."

Mm-hm. 

JEANINE LEECH / GETTY

Drew O'Connor skates through the Buffalo zone Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.

• Repeating for emphasis: I'm not cutting up the kids. If anything, a game like this highlights the potential a handful of these prospects have. Maybe more than most realize.

I saw Zohorna not once but twice soar into the Buffalo zone with a skating reminiscent of Malkin himself. No, I'm not being an idiot and comparing talent, but the style itself is so authoritative that, when Zohorna does it, he makes gaining the zone look routine.

I saw O'Connor do several things I'd never seen out of him before this past month, most of those related to the skating he significantly upgraded over the offseason through a dedicated training/nutrition regimen. He'd struck me as a big, lumbering body in his cameo appearances last season, but he's gliding with a grace now that I couldn't have expected. That's more than encouraging.

I saw Joseph show, in spurts, some of what made him a two-week sensation upon being promoted last season. He's got the wheels, and he's got the puck skills. Seems like he still needs to eat a few more cheeseburgers, but he'll be an NHL defenseman. No doubt.

I even saw glimpses from Kasper Bjorkqvist and Filip Hallander, though the latter began his first NHL action of any kind with a couple of glaring lapses. And much more than that from Sam Poulin and Nathan Légaré when they've played.

My point isn't that these players are doomed to fail. It's just that they don't fit what's needed in this specific October.

• Notice I didn't mention Anthony Angello among the youngsters. There's a reason for it: He won't be taken seriously by management, with that 6-5, 210-pound frame, until he demonstrates some authentic snarl. He led the Penguins with six hits in this game, but there's more to snarl than finishing checks. They're pushing him -- and I'm not guessing at this -- become a real disruptor on the rink. And everyone's still waiting on that.

I'm not declaring him DOA, either, but it feels like he's in a different category than the rest when it comes to hope.

• Letang logged 28:50 in this game, which, I'll remind, was a preseason game.

I know Friedman missed half a period to a left leg injury, and I know Sullivan was struck by a puck on the bench and missed half a period himself. But that really needed to get intercepted by someone on the coaching staff, either Todd Reirden when he was managing the defensemen or Mike Vellucci when he filled in for Reirden, who took Sullivan's place.

Left to his own devices, Letang would never leave a rink.

DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS

Mike Sullivan walks onto the podium for his press conference Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.

• That said, this is hockey. There are no limits to the machismo of hockey, and that was exemplified on this night first by Friedman leaving the ice after a first-period blocked shot looking like he'd need his left leg amputated only to return for the start of the second, then by Sullivan bleeding profusely on the bench only to return a few minutes later. For a preseason game.

When I reminded Sullivan of the rich history of Pittsburgh coaches hanging in there in such situations, specifically Eddie Johnston's 17-stitch gash he shrugged off in the famed Petr Nedved overtime game in 1996, Sullivan smiled and replied, "There aren't too many tougher than E.J."

No, sir. That man was the last NHL goalkeeper to play every one of his team's games and among the last to play without a mask. Good luck topping that.

E.J.'s 85 and doing awesome, by the way. Still shows up for work here regularly.

• The last keeper without a mask: The Penguins' own Andy Brown in 1974.

JEANINE LEECH / GETTY

Danton Heinen goes backhand to forehand to beat the Sabres' Aaron Dell in the shootout Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.

• The top line of Danton Heinen, Jeff Carter and Bryan Rust ... might very well be first line in Tampa next week. Guentzel's asymptomatic, which could accelerate his return, but that hasn't been determined. 

With the massive disclaimer that the Sabres stink even when they've got everyone and that they still utilized little more than their Rochester roster, the top line created quite a bit here. Rust could've had a hat trick with all this chances, Carter twice clanged wicked shots off pipes, and Heinen was the line's most visible member, all over the puck. Collectively, at five-on-five, the line was on the ice for four high-danger chances of their own, none for the Sabres.

• I didn't -- and don't -- like the signing of Heinen, within the context that his $1.1 million could've contributed to keeping Cody Ceci. (Come on, nobody thought I'd get through the whole column without a single mention, right?) But I'll acknowledge Heinen's light on his feet and smart with the puck, and those are traits that'll need to be replaced since Ron Hextall and Brian Burke saw fit to give up two players rather than one in the Seattle expansion draft.

Regardless, I'm open-minded all the way on Heinen, as I try to be with life. Let's see what he's got.

• The plan to replace Ceci, apparently, will have Mike Matheson and John Marino as the second pairing. I have thoughts on this, but I'll instead defer to our new hockey analyst, young Danny Shirey, who'll tackle this topic for us in an all-new Drive to the Net tomorrow morning:

• Mario turned 56 yesterday. I feel older when it's his birthday than when it's my own.