When Drew O'Connor looks back on this Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena, the play he'll undoubtedly remember from the Penguins' 5-2 win over the Blackhawks will be the one that led to his first NHL goal.
There'll be no shame in that.
Brian Dumoulin dumped the puck into the Chicago zone, Dominik Simon chased it down, Marc-Andre Fleury strayed from his crease, and he got pinned by Simon behind the net and misplayed the puck, putting it right in O'Connor's lap. O'Connor tucked it around the post into the vacated net for a 2-0 lead in the first period:
"I don't know if I've thought about all of it yet," O'Connor said of the feeling of scoring his first goal. "Dom just got in on their goalie and made a great play, created a turnover. I kind of just stuffed it in. Not the prettiest goal, but it went in, I guess."
The puck from the goal was one of several milestone goal pucks presented in the locker room after the game:
Special moments all around the locker room tonight! pic.twitter.com/mSliu3nDp1
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 17, 2021
The play from O'Connor that I want to talk about happened just over five minutes later, because it's a much better representation of the strides he's made in this, his second year as a pro.
Patrick Kane took a shot on Tristan Jarry, and the rebound popped out toward the left side of the ice. O'Connor played the puck off the boards to himself and, with a significant burst of speed, was able to create a two-on-one opportunity with Brock McGinn to his right. O'Connor sent the puck cross-ice to McGinn, and McGinn dropped to one knee to fire a one-timer past Fleury to make it 3-0:
"I got the puck there low and they didn't really have anyone back," O'Connor said. "I just skated down and Brock was open, so I slid it over to him. He made a great play putting it in."
"He had it set up the whole way," McGinn said of the goal. "I think he made a great play there. I think it's just reading off of what's available."
Mike Sullivan praised the way that O'Connor was able to read the play develop and choose the moment to get the puck to McGinn.
"A lot of guys might have held that puck a little bit longer, and the window might have closed," Sullivan said. "He made that early pass at the top of the circle. That's hard to defend."
That play is a better representation of the -- quite literal -- strides that O'Connor has made this season, this after extensive work on improving his speed and strength over the offseason. O'Connor trained this summer at Prentiss Hockey Performance in Stamford, Conn. He worked at Prentiss in a group that included the Rangers' Chris Kreider and the Devils' John Hayden, in addition to making major changes to his diet, including cutting gluten and dairy entirely. Another player who trains at Prentiss told me that he's "never seen someone so shredded" as O'Connor after this offseason.
After watching O'Connor throughout the preseason and regular season, Sullivan said that he sees O'Connor being "a step quicker."
It's that extra step that's allowing him to make plays like the one on McGinn's goal.
"It feels good to kind of see the benefit of some of the work I put in this summer," O'Connor told me after the game. "It's just the start here, so I've got to keep going."
Skating on a highly effective fourth line alongside Brian Boyle and Dominik Simon, O'Connor had his team's best on-ice shot attempt differential at five-on-five, with the Penguins controlling an incredible 82.35 percent of all shot attempts taken during the 9:05 that O'Connor was on the ice at five-on-five, taking 14 and allowing only three.
Overall, Sullivan said that O'Connor is "so far ahead where he was a year ago."
"He's so much more confident," Sullivan observed. "He's a heavy body when he's on the puck, he's hard to knock off it, and he's got a real good shot. He has playmaking ability. ... We're really encouraged by the progress that he's made, and we think he's got so, so much more upside. He's a good player, he's got a lot of raw talent. ... He's getting better and better with every game he plays."
O'Connor was a healthy scratch Thursday in Sunrise, Fla. Here's betting that won't be the case again for a while.
PENGUINS
Drew O'Connor with his first NHL goal puck after the game Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Drew O'Connor, Penguins
2. Brock McGinn, Penguins
3. Danton Heinen, Penguins
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Sidney Crosby expects to miss "hopefully a week or two" more after recovering from offseason wrist surgery. He skated with Ty Hennes on Saturday.
• Evgeni Malkin is expected to miss the first two months of the season while recovering from his knee surgery.
• Mike Matheson is day-to-day with a lower-body issue. He skated with Hennes on Saturday.
• Bryan Rust left Thursday's game with an undisclosed injury and is still being evaluated as of Saturday morning. He was put on injured reserve retroactive to Thursday.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Jeff Carter - Danton Heinen
Jason Zucker - Evan Rodrigues - Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn
Drew O'Connor - Brian Boyle - Dominik Simon
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - John Marino
Mark Friedman - Chad Ruhwedel
And for Jeremy Colliton's Blackhawks:
Dominik Kubalik - Jonathan Toews - Philipp Kurashev
Alex DeBrincat - Kirby Dach - Patrick Kane
Brandon Hagel - Henrik Borgstrom - Tyler Johnson
Jujhar Khaira - MacKenzie Entwistle - Adam Gaudette
Jake McCabe - Connor Murphy
Calvin de Haan - Seth Jones
Riley Stillman - Erik Gustafsson
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins have a scheduled day off Sunday. They'll practice in Cranberry on Monday at 11 a.m., then host the Stars at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday evening.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
