When Team Sweden inexplicably left the Swede with the NHL's fourth-most goals, Rickard Rakell, off its 4 Nations Face-Off roster, he was a bit bothered. He chose to let the snub drive him, telling me his "goal was just to try to show them that they did the wrong thing."
Since the initial rosters were released Dec. 4, Rakell has done pretty well for himself -- his 14 goals and 30 points both rank second among all Swedish players in that span.
And on Wednesday morning, Team Sweden officially righted that earlier wrong, naming him to the roster in place of injured William Karlsson.
"It's a huge honor for me to play for Sweden," Rakell said after Tuesday's loss to the Devils. "Ever since I didn't make the team, you never know what's going to happen, and my whole focus has been here with the Penguins, and just try to do whatever I can here. But I'm really looking forward to it and just playing with the best players."
• Pretty interesting fact, using the NHL's player-tracking data: The fastest Penguin tonight? Bryan Rust, at 22.61 miles per hour. No. 2? Boko Imama -- 22.52. He gets moving.
• Matt Grzelcyk played his 500th career NHL game in the loss. His dad was in attendance for the milestone -- a few dads were in town, with the team's annual dads trip coming up this week.
• Michael Bunting had five giveaways in the first period alone. Crazy stuff. He finished with six.
• An apparently good night for Sidney Crosby in faceoffs -- he went 14-5. He also, of course, was beaten cleanly by Jack Hughes for a New Jersey goal in the second period.
• The Ryan Graves-Vincent Desharnais pair was again pretty OK for their second game together: 9-10 in shot attempts, 7-3 in unblocked attempts, 4-1 in shots on goal and no goals in either direction with them on the ice at five-on-five. The coaching staff, though, does seem to be making more of an effort to deploy them in offensive situations than was the case previously with Graves on the third pairing this season, when the deployment was very defense-first.
• Rakell had a goal called off in the first period for a kicking motion. He went to angle his foot in the direction of the net, but had some force in moving the foot forward in the process, which is usually going to get called. On the call, Crosby said, "It's close. I can see both sides. That one's tough. It wasn't a really obvious one. But I mean, his foot does move forward a bit. ... I think just the way the puck went, it was coming back toward him and ends up going back toward the net. So I guess there's an argument with that, for sure."
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THE ASYLUM
Taylor Haase
6:22 am - 02.05.2025UptownLoose Pucks: Rakell's 'huge honor'
When Team Sweden inexplicably left the Swede with the NHL's fourth-most goals, Rickard Rakell, off its 4 Nations Face-Off roster, he was a bit bothered. He chose to let the snub drive him, telling me his "goal was just to try to show them that they did the wrong thing."
Since the initial rosters were released Dec. 4, Rakell has done pretty well for himself -- his 14 goals and 30 points both rank second among all Swedish players in that span.
And on Wednesday morning, Team Sweden officially righted that earlier wrong, naming him to the roster in place of injured William Karlsson.
"It's a huge honor for me to play for Sweden," Rakell said after Tuesday's loss to the Devils. "Ever since I didn't make the team, you never know what's going to happen, and my whole focus has been here with the Penguins, and just try to do whatever I can here. But I'm really looking forward to it and just playing with the best players."
• Pretty interesting fact, using the NHL's player-tracking data: The fastest Penguin tonight? Bryan Rust, at 22.61 miles per hour. No. 2? Boko Imama -- 22.52. He gets moving.
• Matt Grzelcyk played his 500th career NHL game in the loss. His dad was in attendance for the milestone -- a few dads were in town, with the team's annual dads trip coming up this week.
• Michael Bunting had five giveaways in the first period alone. Crazy stuff. He finished with six.
• An apparently good night for Sidney Crosby in faceoffs -- he went 14-5. He also, of course, was beaten cleanly by Jack Hughes for a New Jersey goal in the second period.
• The Ryan Graves-Vincent Desharnais pair was again pretty OK for their second game together: 9-10 in shot attempts, 7-3 in unblocked attempts, 4-1 in shots on goal and no goals in either direction with them on the ice at five-on-five. The coaching staff, though, does seem to be making more of an effort to deploy them in offensive situations than was the case previously with Graves on the third pairing this season, when the deployment was very defense-first.
• Rakell had a goal called off in the first period for a kicking motion. He went to angle his foot in the direction of the net, but had some force in moving the foot forward in the process, which is usually going to get called. On the call, Crosby said, "It's close. I can see both sides. That one's tough. It wasn't a really obvious one. But I mean, his foot does move forward a bit. ... I think just the way the puck went, it was coming back toward him and ends up going back toward the net. So I guess there's an argument with that, for sure."
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