DETROIT -- Mike Sullivan has seen enough of Sam Poulin and Nathan Legare to seem confident they are big pieces of the Penguins' future.
He's also seen enough of their flaws to seemingly rule them out of the franchise's short-term plans.
"I think their raw talent has been on display," Sullivan said after the Penguins' 4-2 exhibition loss to the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena Thursday night. "You can see why they got drafted where they did, with some of their natural ability.
"You can also see some of the immaturity in their game, where they need to learn certain details in order to develop a more mature game. That's just part of the natural development of a player.
"These guys have shown a lot of promise. We're really excited about what we've seen from a lot of (the prospects) throughout the course of this training camp, so we think, moving forward here, that these guys will get better, and our hope is that the learning curve will be steep. We'll see where it goes."
Both have appeared in three exhibition games this year; neither has recorded a point.
The Penguins can only hope that the developmental curve for Poulin, who was their first-round draft choice in 2019, and Legare, their third-rounder that year, will resemble that of Drew O'Connor who, in his second pro season, is making it difficult for management to justify assigning him to Wilkes-Barre.
He scored their first goal Thursday -- his third of the preseason -- beating Red Wings goalie Thomas Greiss from the inner edge of the right circle at 10:20 of the second period and playing yet another solid game at both ends of the ice.
"I thought Drew O'Connor had another strong game," Sullivan said. "His two-way game has really developed. It's come a long way. I think he's playing with a lot more confidence. We utilized him on the power play tonight. He was part of the penalty-kill. We had him killing with Brian Boyle. I thought he did a good job on the kill, as well."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Dominik Simon, who is on a two-way contract, had a strong showing, highlighted by scoring the Penguins' second goal, as he chased down a loose puck before flipping a forehand past Greiss from close range. Simon said he thinks he has had a "pretty good" camp, but declined to speculate on whether he'll be on the NHL roster when the regular season begins Tuesday night in Tampa. His performance against Detroit certainly didn't hurt his chances, though. "I thought Dom Simon was really good," Sullivan said. "Not only did he score a goal, but he was stiff on the puck all night long. He makes plays. He wins puck battles, and he makes plays out of the traffic."
• Mike Matheson logged a Kris Letang-like amount of ice time, 24 minutes and 57 seconds, the most of anyone on either team.
• Casey DeSmith, playing his second complete game in a row, stopped 33 of 36 shots. When the Penguins were halfway through their six-game preseason schedule, Sullivan said he planned to give DeSmith and Tristan Jarry one full game each, but said Thursday night that he hadn't strayed from the script. "That was our intent going in," he said. "We penciled in these guys getting a certain amount of games, and we'll see that through, throughout the course of the camp. There certainly are reasons we chose to play Casey back-to-back."
• The Red Wings had a decided edge on faceoffs, winning 32 of 53. Sam Lafferty (8-8) and O'Connor (1-1) were the only Penguins to break even on draws.
• The Penguins killed all four Detroit power plays, although Pius Suter scored the Red Wings' first goal two seconds after a Legare hooking minor expired.
• Sullivan praised forward Valtteri Puustinen, who got the primary assist on O'Connor's goal. "He's got real offensive instincts," Sullivan said. "I think he sees the ice well. He makes a real nice play on the power-play goal. That's a high-end play that he makes. ... I'm certainly excited to watch his game develop."
• Anthony Angello was credited with five hits, a quarter of the Penguins' total.
• Don't let anyone tell you that real estate in Detroit is inexpensive. A parking space in the garage next to the arena was going for $45 Thursday night.
• Detroit had three players with local ties -- right winger Riley Barber is a Washington, Pa. native who briefly was a Penguins farmhand, former Penguins forward Carter Rowney and Greiss -- in its lineup. Barber had five shots on goal, tying for second-most in the game.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• NHL scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Little Caesars Arena:
1. Joe Veleno, Red Wings
2. Filip Hronek, Red Wings
3. Dominik Simon, Penguins
THE INJURIES
• Sidney Crosby (wrist surgery) is expected to be out for several more weeks.
• Evgeni Malkin (knee surgery) is expected to be out until at least December.
• Jake Guentzel was diagnosed with COVID-19 Sunday.
• Zach Aston-Reese was diagnosed with COVID-19 Sept. 27.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Dominik Simon - Radim Zohorna - Valtteri Puustinen
Drew O'Connor - Brian Boyle - Anthony Angello
Sam Poulin - Sam Lafferty - Nathan Legare
Filip Hallander - Jonathan Gruden - Kasper Bjorkqvist
Mike Matheson - Chad Ruhwedel
P.O Joseph - Taylor Fedun
Niclas Almari - Juuso Riikola
And for Jeff Blashill's Red Wings:
Tyler Bertuzzi - Pius Suter - Lucas Raymond
Taro Hirose - Joe Veleno - Bobby Ryan
Chase Pearson - Mitchell Stephens - Sam Gagner
Jonatan Berggren - Carter Rowney - Riley Barber
Marc Staal - Filip Hronek
Gustav Lindstrom - Moritz Seider
Dan Renouf - Luke Witkowski
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will practice Friday at noon at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, then close out preseason play Saturday at 7:08 p.m. at Columbus.
THE CONTENT
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