Meaning the skill to catch that pass with with his skate. The acceleration. The glide. The lateral cut. The toe-drag between the hashes. And, of course, the finish.
And after the Penguins' 5-2 victory over the Capitals in the season finale tonight here at PPG Paints Arena, I'd tell the young man precisely that.
What I didn't know, as I'd add, was that he had this:
Catch that?
If not, check it out again, and keep a close on those shifty wrists ... in the split-second before he slides that puck across to Sidney Crosby for the classic statue finish. The play developed off a turnover created by Connor Dewar, and Tomasino stepped off the boards to find Sid ... hey, why was Sid there?
"Where'd he even come from?" Tomasino'd ask me.
To which I replied that he'd just bounded off the bench for a change on the fly.
"Well, all I know is I look up, and there he is. I've got to get the puck through to him."
Through was the key. Jakob Chychrun, Washington's recently extended $72 million defenseman, focuses -- correctly -- on cutting off any pass. One knee down. Shaft down. At the worst, in theory, he'll force Tomasino to saucer and, thus, create a bumpy landing at the far end.
Nope. Because there's one tiny hesitation in Tomasino's delivery -- that's just enough to send Chychrun skidding harmlessly out of the low slot and clearing the path.
"Yeah, but how about that finish?" was all Tomasino would say when I initially broached this.
I tried again, and all I got was, "Man, when it's Sid, just need to get it there."
Fine. Let the record show I tried.
And, infinitely more important, that Tomasino made plenty of his first 51 games in Pittsburgh, all following the Nov. 25, 2024, trade in which Kyle Dubas sent a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft to the Predators, the team that took him in the first round in 2019 but, apparently, gave up: Tomasino finished with 11 goals and 12 assists in those 51 games, this despite doing some bottom-six duty along with some alongside Evgeni Malkin.
He's still only 23, too. Sequences like those above don't sour at that age.
THE ASYLUM
Drive to the Net: Tomasino twist
I knew Phil Tomasino had this:
Meaning the skill to catch that pass with with his skate. The acceleration. The glide. The lateral cut. The toe-drag between the hashes. And, of course, the finish.
And after the Penguins' 5-2 victory over the Capitals in the season finale tonight here at PPG Paints Arena, I'd tell the young man precisely that.
What I didn't know, as I'd add, was that he had this:
Catch that?
If not, check it out again, and keep a close on those shifty wrists ... in the split-second before he slides that puck across to Sidney Crosby for the classic statue finish. The play developed off a turnover created by Connor Dewar, and Tomasino stepped off the boards to find Sid ... hey, why was Sid there?
"Where'd he even come from?" Tomasino'd ask me.
To which I replied that he'd just bounded off the bench for a change on the fly.
"Well, all I know is I look up, and there he is. I've got to get the puck through to him."
Through was the key. Jakob Chychrun, Washington's recently extended $72 million defenseman, focuses -- correctly -- on cutting off any pass. One knee down. Shaft down. At the worst, in theory, he'll force Tomasino to saucer and, thus, create a bumpy landing at the far end.
Nope. Because there's one tiny hesitation in Tomasino's delivery -- that's just enough to send Chychrun skidding harmlessly out of the low slot and clearing the path.
"Yeah, but how about that finish?" was all Tomasino would say when I initially broached this.
I tried again, and all I got was, "Man, when it's Sid, just need to get it there."
Fine. Let the record show I tried.
And, infinitely more important, that Tomasino made plenty of his first 51 games in Pittsburgh, all following the Nov. 25, 2024, trade in which Kyle Dubas sent a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft to the Predators, the team that took him in the first round in 2019 but, apparently, gave up: Tomasino finished with 11 goals and 12 assists in those 51 games, this despite doing some bottom-six duty along with some alongside Evgeni Malkin.
He's still only 23, too. Sequences like those above don't sour at that age.
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