McGroarty 'only going to get better' after encouraging NHL debut

Rutger McGroarty said that the "scariest part" for him personally of the Penguins' 6-0 loss to the Rangers at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday actually happened just before the game.

Warmups. With McGroarty making his NHL debut, he took the ceremonial solo rookie lap around the ice at the start of warmups before his teammates joined him.

"My first shot went like, middle bar," McGroarty recalled. "And then after that, skating around with no helmet on was pretty cool. You only get one rookie lap, so it was exciting for me to have my family in the crowd and have some friends, my sister, my girlfriend. It was exciting moment for me and my family."

McGroarty's debut was a mixed bag. It's hard to get past a 6-0 shutout loss, what he called a "sucky way to end the game." But for McGroarty individually, at least, there wee some positives to take away.

McGroarty debuted on the left side of the Penguins' third line -- alongside Lars Eller and Jesse Puljujarvi, right where he had been skating since training camp was nearing an end. In a game in which the Penguin were outshot 41-29, things generally went in the Rangers' favor no matter what line was on the ice. But when that Penguins third line was out there, the results weren't half bad ... perhaps even decent. The trio was together on the ice at five-on-five for a total of 8:10, and in that time the Penguins out-attempted the Rangers 11-6 and outshot them 8-4. The Rangers scored one goal against the third line.

It's worth noting that the third line did have easier-than-usual deployment in terms of zones: Six offensive zone faceoffs to only one in their own end. But they were also most frequently matched against the Rangers' second line of Artemi Panarin, Vince Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere. Definitely a little step up from the kinds of opponents McGroarty was lining up against at Michigan.

"The main thing that they do that I noticed is everything is crisp," McGroarty said of the Rangers. "Everything. They make you pay if you mess up and if you take the wrong route. If you do something wrong, they'll make you pay. Definitely a team with that many threats, they know how to put the puck in the back of the net,. They know how to create offense off of our mistakes."

McGroarty personally finished with 12:19 in ice time, recording one shot on one attempt, and no other real-time stats. No hits, no blocked shots or takeaways ... but also no giveaways. He had to step in for one faceoff, one in which he lost.

"I feel like personally, I made some solid plays on the offensive side of the puck, made some good wall plays in the D zone," McGroarty reflected. "There's a couple things I definitely want to tighten up. I don't know if it was just nerves or whatever it was -- I wouldn't say it was nerves, I was just really excited for my first NHL game -- so I was maybe running around too much. But overall, it was a fun first NHL game."

McGroarty felt as if he got that excited energy out of his system by the third or fourth shift, then he was able to settle in and feel more comfortable. It helped having a center like Eller, a veteran who is exceptionally smart and good at explaining the game.

"Lars, first off, he's an unbelievable guy," McGroarty said. "I mean, there's a reason why he's played in this league for so long. It's extremely fun playing with him. Even just talking to him, he's a great guy. On the bench, just going over things, it was fun playing with him."

McGroarty really does seem like he's going to get an extended chance to show what he can do in the NHL. For one, they'll definitely need him for a little longer -- if the Penguins want Bryan Rust to get a full-contact, full practice in before playing a game, that wouldn't have him back until Monday in Montreal at the earliest. Blake Lizotte remains in concussion protocol and has yet to even skate. With games Thursday in Detroit and Saturday in Toronto, McGroarty will have a few more opportunities to show that he can stay in the lineup when it's healthy.

Though it's not the easiest of games to assess, Mike Sullivan really did like what he saw from McGroarty, and thinks it'll be one for him to build on moving forward.

"I thought Rutger played well," Sullivan said. "He made some wall plays. You can see his hockey sense, he sees it pretty well. I think he has poise with the puck, he doesn't just throw it away. I thought he handled the pace of play really well. We’re excited about Rutger’s game, and we think he's only going to get better.”