Kovacevic: Penguins, now the only show in town, already having a blast

"We were excited to play. Honestly, I think we were all kind of eager after how last season ended. So, for us to play how we did in front of our fans ... it was just exciting tonight for us. The building was loud. It was a lot of fun."

That was Jake Guentzel, minutes after putting up two pretty points in the Penguins' 6-2 smackdown of the Lightning on this Saturday night at a pulsating PPG Paints Arena, this following a same-score outcome over the Coyotes in their season opener here 48 hours earlier.

Everyone knows Jake, right?

Fine young man. Forty-goal sniper. Future bankruptcy lawyer for the Milkshake Factory.

But fun? Excitement? A building being loud within city limits for any of our three big-league teams?

What sorcery is this?

I asked one of Jake's linemates to elaborate:

"Yeah, definitely," Sidney Crosby would reply to my question about the impact the capacity crowd had in both these games. "I think we're pretty fortunate here. We're used to that. Starting the season, I think everyone's pumped up to get going here."

I thought he was done. He wasn't.

"I don't want to say we take it for granted," Sid continued, "but we've gotten used to it, and it's a huge boost, always."

No, they can't take it for granted. Certainly not at a time like this on the Pittsburgh sports scene.

Not with a 45-year-old quarterback about to hang 45 points on the 1-4 Steelers' decimated defense this weekend, to say nothing of the not-since-before-Chuck Noll failure that now seems sure to follow.

Not with the 100-loss Pirates ... being the 100-loss Pirates, and yet even more than usual over this same weekend with Ben Cherington tacitly confirming my reporting of a month ago that they won't care about 2023, either.

And, to be fair, not with the Penguins fresh off a fourth consecutive first-round Stanley Cup flop of their own.

That last one's obviously the one that'd be the focus in this place. Professional athletes tend to live insular existences, especially once in-season. They don't exist within a solar system of worrying about what the other teams in town are doing on any diligent basis, and they definitely aren't psychoanalyzing the city.

But that first-round thing?

That's different, as I'd affirm with Mike Sullivan after this.

"They're a proud group," he'd reply to my question as to whether this is a response to the first-round thing. "They have an appetite to win. To a man, the core group of players that have been here, they're hungry to win. There's no other way to say it. We see it every day. They're willing to put the work in, willing to make the sacrifices. We talk about it with our players all the time: It's a daily endeavor. It doesn't happen by accident. You've got to go out and earn it in this league every day. Nothing's inevitable. We have good players, but a lot of teams have good players. It takes more than good players to win. You need a certain level of commitment, and I think our guys display that. They put themselves in a position year in and year out to contend. I just think that's part of their DNA, and they continue to show it."

Yeah, that's it. That's really it.

I could illustrate this with Jake's two pretty points, beginning with this setup of Sid's sweet backhand tuck behind Brian Elliott:

Or with Jake's second goal in as many games, a deft redirect despite having to reach around Brayden Point:

Or Danton Heinen's exceptional keep + dangle + peanut-butter finish: 

But I'll instead cite Bryan Rust's mostly meaningless goal that made it 5-1, if only because he'd been visibly forehead-slamming his way through the entire evening, to the extreme that I'd correctly predicted there was no way he'd escape this one without a goal:

Kinda like this one in the opener:

That celebration, though. Dude.

It's two games. I'm not getting ahead of anything, and I'm hardly envisioning greatness for the group. To date, they've beaten a glorified AHL roster, a three-time defending conference champ ... that played the previous night in Columbus and rested the planet's premier goaltender, and all they've achieved is four points of a possible 164.

But ... I've got no issue expressing that I'm impressed. With the speed they're showing that'll silence more than a few cynics. With all three of the Core rising up right away: Sid's got six freaking points already, Evgeni Malkin's got a couple, and Kris Letang's been brilliant on the back end. And maybe most of all, with this drive they're exhibiting.

There's a ton of pride behind it, to be sure.

Civic included. Heck, we all miss it.

• And yeah, I got through that entire lede entry up there without positing that the Penguins have already scored two more touchdowns than Matt Canada could ever concoct within the same week.

Sorry not sorry, as the cool kids say.

• Take the time to look at this:

PENGUINS

Never, ever take him for granted. Nor, for that matter, the franchise's own intrinsic greatness.

By tying Doug Gilmour for 19th on the NHL's all-time points list on this night, Sid gave the Penguins a phenomenal seventh name out of 20 up there. Even though Pittsburgh was awarded a franchise in 1967 within a league that'd already been a half-century old.

• It's silly to say Rickard Rakell's worked well with Sid and Jake when they're bunching up production like this, with Rakell himself hitting an empty net in this one and building on a team-best plus-5 rating. But ... hey, he has. Just as Rust's worked well with Geno.

If this were to persist, it'd be as relevant as anything else that could take root for this team in the opening month. An actual top-six.

• Man, Jason Zucker's under-appreciated. Energy galore. Adds so much.

But am I the only one who's just waiting, shift by shift, for him to hobble off and not be seen again for weeks?

• Tristan Jarry was so smart, so sharp in this game that I'll bet not a soul could recall more than one or two of the saves he made in this one. Think about that.

• Think about this, too: Heinen's here because he accepted $1 million to return, markedly below market value, principally because he loves playing for Sullivan and he loves being around these teammates. That doesn't happen in professional sports anywhere near as often as most might think.

• The Penguins bludgeoned the Lightning with 22 high-danger chances, all but four of them at even-strength. That's nuts. And that's enough to expect they'd have been almost as productive if facing the great Andrei Vasilevskiy in goal rather than Brian Elliott.

It also was enough to tick off the visitors:

“We have lots of work to do," Jon Cooper would say. "We shot ourselves in the foot tonight, and they took advantage. That’s what good teams will do.”

• While Cooper and crew have been busy competing for the Cup, they've seriously struggled with the Penguins, who are now 5-2-1 in the past eight meetings and, in this place, 17-6-3 in the past 26. What's more, a lot of those were lopsided.

Victor Hedman, who's been around for all of that, tried to explain afterward, "With the talent that they have, and the speed they play with, it's a tough matchup for us. We've faced, or at least I've faced this team many times. We know it's possible to beat them. But it feels, today, they were better."

Are the Bolts still the team to beat in the East?

Time will tell, but my pick's the one on the opposite coast of Florida.

• Thing I didn't miss about the NHL: Nikita Kucherov flagrantly diving to draw a phantom first-period penalty, Steven Stamkos making it count with a power-play beauty, and then the referees realizing they blew it and sending off the Lightning's Alex Killorn for a feather-like slash a minute later. As if two lousy calls are better than one.

Best sport ...

• Another thing I didn't miss (but the refs did): Corey Perry, petty and filthy as ever, dangerously jutted out his left leg while skating across Jarry's crease in the second period. No call.

It's not as if they don't know which guys to watch. Especially when the guy's been in the league since the Ducks were Mighty.

• Ian Cole couldn't suit up for the Lightning since the NHL's investigation result, which quickly and completely cleared him in the league's eye, of any sexual misconduct allegations, wasn't released until late afternoon. But I'm typing it here in a tiny attempt to balance a growing tendency to decide people are guilty before getting anything resembling due process.The league's statement:

• After the game here, Cole released this statement through the team: “I’m grateful for the opportunity to respond to and refute the anonymous allegations made against me, which I categorically deny. I’m looking forward to returning to the ice with my teammates and will have no further comments on this matter going forward.”

• Congrats to Dana Heinze on a passionate 33-year career as equipment manager, and kudos to the Penguins for treating his contributions here accordingly. Not all jobs are glamorous, but they all count when it comes to championships.

• Thanks for reading. I love writing about hockey, and I hope it shows.

DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS

Panoramic view of a faceoff in the first period, PPG Paints Arena, Saturday night.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Jake Guentzel, Penguins LW
2. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
3. Jeff Carter, Penguins C

THE INJURIES

• Teddy Blueger, center, skated with skills coach Ty Hennes prior to the morning skate, then stayed on for the skate wearing a regular practice sweater. Sullivan said Blueger's status remains day-to-day but added he's "making progress." He's day-to-day.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen
Brock McGinn-Ryan Poehling-Josh Archibald

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph-Jan Rutta

And for Cooper's Bolts:

Brandon Hagel-Brayden Point-Nikita Kucherov
Nicholas Paul-Steven Stamkos-Alex Killorn
Ross Colton-Vladislav Namestnikov-Corey Perry
Gabriel Fortier-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Pat Maroon

Victor Hedman-Cal Foote
Mikhail Sergachev-Erik Cernak
Haydn Fleury-Philippe Myers

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins will practice Sunday, 12 p.m., in Cranberry, then fly to Montreal for the game there the following night. Danny Shirey will cover the practice, and Taylor Haase will fly to Montreal.

THE CONTENT

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