Productive as it was for the Penguins to pull two points from the opening leg of a seven-game trip by beating the Sabres, 5-2, tonight at KeyBank Center, let's leap on the pause button here before taking it too far, particularly when weighing the three principal ingredients:
1. Goaltender does something no one's ever done.
2. Power play scores once, twice, then three times.
I saw the Rakell release live, obviously, from the press box. Never saw the puck. Saw it again on a side-view replay. Saw another from behind. Still nothing. That's how a team gets 4 of 18 shots behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, by making them count with a capital Crushed It.
So, who had the shot of the game?
"Oh, Rusty, for sure," Rakell would tell me. "Wait, no, it was Ned."
Uh-huh. It was that kind of night.
But here's the part where I'm that buzzkill, because the same guy who at least partly lauded the Penguins for prodigious possession performances in losing their previous two games, to the Lightning and Kraken, will feel completely comfortable panning all of following falling big-time in Buffalo's favor:
The Sabres' Zach Benson, whose short-handed breakaway was thwarted by Alex Nedeljković, only to see the Penguins surge the other way for a Cody Glass goal, might've put it best: “I thought, for the most part, we dominated. But you’ve got to come away with two points."
Sound familiar?
Well, don't waste much time soaking it up. Because in less than 24 hours, the Penguins take the ice in Washington for the second leg of this monstrous seven-game trip not against the last-place Sabres but against Alexander Ovechkin and the first-place Capitals.
And if they spend the next evening relying on Joel Blomqvist, who's expected to start, to make saves like these ...
... they'll not only be blown out of the building, but they also might be blowing a talented kid's big chance to cement himself at their most important position.
Mike Sullivan's smarter than me, if only because he wasn't about to go the full buzzkill after his players had just spent the previous 15-20 minutes whooping it up in the locker room for a beloved teammate. But make no mistake: Sullivan knew what I was asking when I inquired about everything Nedeljković was required to do aside from his own goal and assist.
“I thought he was spectacular all night," Sullivan would reply. "I thought he made some huge saves throughout the course of the game."
And then, without provocation: "I don’t think we were as tight as we needed to be defensively. Our power play was terrific tonight, and I thought our power play and Ned essentially made the difference in the game. I know we’re capable of another level five-on-five, and we’ve played a better game five-on-five most recently. I think we’ve got to try to tighten up there.”
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THE ASYLUM
Dejan Kovacevic
7:10 am - 01.18.2025Buffalo, N.Y.DK: Being real, that's no blueprint
Don't want to be the buzzkill, but ...
Productive as it was for the Penguins to pull two points from the opening leg of a seven-game trip by beating the Sabres, 5-2, tonight at KeyBank Center, let's leap on the pause button here before taking it too far, particularly when weighing the three principal ingredients:
1. Goaltender does something no one's ever done.
2. Power play scores once, twice, then three times.
3. These snipes by Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust:
I saw the Rakell release live, obviously, from the press box. Never saw the puck. Saw it again on a side-view replay. Saw another from behind. Still nothing. That's how a team gets 4 of 18 shots behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, by making them count with a capital Crushed It.
So, who had the shot of the game?
"Oh, Rusty, for sure," Rakell would tell me. "Wait, no, it was Ned."
Uh-huh. It was that kind of night.
But here's the part where I'm that buzzkill, because the same guy who at least partly lauded the Penguins for prodigious possession performances in losing their previous two games, to the Lightning and Kraken, will feel completely comfortable panning all of following falling big-time in Buffalo's favor:
• Shots: 42-19
• Shot attempts: 82-47
• High-danger chances: 12-5
• Clear breakaways: 3-1
The Sabres' Zach Benson, whose short-handed breakaway was thwarted by Alex Nedeljković, only to see the Penguins surge the other way for a Cody Glass goal, might've put it best: “I thought, for the most part, we dominated. But you’ve got to come away with two points."
Sound familiar?
Well, don't waste much time soaking it up. Because in less than 24 hours, the Penguins take the ice in Washington for the second leg of this monstrous seven-game trip not against the last-place Sabres but against Alexander Ovechkin and the first-place Capitals.
And if they spend the next evening relying on Joel Blomqvist, who's expected to start, to make saves like these ...
... they'll not only be blown out of the building, but they also might be blowing a talented kid's big chance to cement himself at their most important position.
Mike Sullivan's smarter than me, if only because he wasn't about to go the full buzzkill after his players had just spent the previous 15-20 minutes whooping it up in the locker room for a beloved teammate. But make no mistake: Sullivan knew what I was asking when I inquired about everything Nedeljković was required to do aside from his own goal and assist.
“I thought he was spectacular all night," Sullivan would reply. "I thought he made some huge saves throughout the course of the game."
And then, without provocation: "I don’t think we were as tight as we needed to be defensively. Our power play was terrific tonight, and I thought our power play and Ned essentially made the difference in the game. I know we’re capable of another level five-on-five, and we’ve played a better game five-on-five most recently. I think we’ve got to try to tighten up there.”
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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