Friday's meeting between the Penguins and Devils marked the first meeting between the two teams since the offseason trade of defensemen that sent John Marino to the Devils and brought Ty Smith to Pittsburgh.
The trade has certainly worked out in the Devils' favor since, with Marino looking much more like the dynamic rookie-year Marino of 2019-20. For the Penguins, the significant return in that deal was the millions in cap space it brought, and Smith was secondary to that. Smith was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to start the season due to a combination of Smith needing to work on his defensive game and also being one of the few waivers-exempt players on the team.
When the Penguins and Devils met on Friday, it was Smith that was in the lineup against his former team, making his Penguins debut after an injuries to Jeff Petry, Chad Ruhwedel and Kris Letang provided an opportunity. Marino, though, was sidelined for the Devils with an upper-body injury.
The Devils came out on top in the meeting with a 4-2 win, and Smith had a relatively quiet night and stayed off the scoresheet. As the night went on, he settled in and had a pretty good first showing as a Penguin.
The Penguins' coaches have always been upfront about liking what Smith can bring offensively. He's a player who scored five goals and 15 assists in 66 games last season with the Devils, and two goal and 21 assists in 48 games as a rookie in the year before.
The Penguins used Smith as a power play quarterback back in the preseason, and what he could bring in that sort of role was evident with his mobility and shot from the blue line.
"I think it's really evident he's great along the offensive line," Mike Sullivan said after a preseason game in Buffalo. "You know, he scales the line on the power play or even five-on-five, he has the ability to distribute the puck. He's going to get the puck through, getting it down to the net to give our forwards the opportunity for next play. His deception on the offensive line, I think it's impressive. I think he's got good offensive instincts."
The Penguins went 0-for-9 on the power play Friday night. Nobody looked great. But Smith handled himself just fine after being thrust into the role of power play quarterback on the top unit with Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Rickard Rakell and Evgeni Malkin. Smith recorded a total of four shots on goal in his debut, three of which came on the power play. The only player who had more shots on the power play in the game was Rakell, who recorded four.
This one came on a power play in the third period:
Sullivan thought that Smith did a "really good job" in his role.
"That's not an easy position to throw a young guy in when he comes up and he's quarterbacking our top power-play unit," Sullivan said. "I thought for the most part, he did a really good job. He made good decisions with the puck, he delivered pucks down to the net. We had a lane where we had a couple opportunities with deflections. There were a couple opportunities off the rebound that the puck was laying there, we just couldn't grab a hold of it. But I thought he made good decisions. He was distributing the puck well."
This was one of those shot attempt that led to a rebound opportunity:
Smith played 22:14 in the loss, leading all Penguins defensemen in ice time. He skated on the third pairing alongside Brian Dumoulin, who Smith said "helped me out."
"It's great," Smith said of Dumoulin. "He's really reliable, he's been around for a long time and he's good at what he does. He's a good veteran."
Smith brought some physicality too, with his four hits tied for the team-lead.
The three injured Penguins defensemen in Petry, Ruhwedel and Letang are all right-handed shots. The only healthy right-handed shots on the roster are Jan Rutta and Mark Friedman. One of the lefties had to shift over to the right side for this game, and it was Smith who had that task, given that it's not unfamiliar territory for him. For a left-handed shot like Smith on his off side, it can help his offensive game because his stick is now angled right up the slot toward the goal. It can sometimes make things trickier defensively though, because it can be harder for Smith to play a puck along the boards next to him.
Assessing his own performance in this game, Smith said that he "did OK," but acknowledged that the power play he was part of wasn't good enough.
"Obviously, we want to win the game," he said. "Those opportunities on the power play, we need to be better there to help contribute."
Petry remains out "longer-term," and Ruhwedel and Letang have yet to skate with the team since suffering their injuries. The Penguins seem to be in a position where there could potentially be a spot for Smith for a few more games at least, and it'll be interesting to see what he brings to the team in that time, especially as he settles in more on the power play.
