The old kid may have torched the new kid on the opening faceoff, but it was Connor Bedard leaving Pittsburgh with a 4-2 victory over Sidney Crosby’s Penguins. It was not a good result for the new look Penguins. By all accounts the Blackhawks will be near the bottom of the league this season. This was a great opportunity to start on a positive and take two points immediately. It wasn’t to be.
This wasn’t an awful game by any stretch for Pittsburgh. They just weren’t sharp and considering it is the first game of the season. A result that is always on the table as a possible outcome on night one. The Penguins effectively split shot attempts with the Blackhawks at 5v5 with Pittsburgh having a 55-54 slim advantage. Again, not ideal against a team predicted to be near the bottom of the standings. They needed to register more tangible results with those 55 attempts and their 40 overall shots on goal. It was Petr Mrazek not Igor Shesterkin.
A bad habit from last year reared its ugly head last night
Last season, Pens and Rangers only teams to lose 9 games when leading after two periods (Pens 28-4-5). Faces have changed, but so far the trend continues.
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) October 11, 2023
Sidney Crosby scored the Penguins second goal. However, his overall play was lacking last night which is rare to see from him. His xGF% was only 26.18. There were only five instances all of last season where Crosby was lower. This isn’t the norm for him and I don’t expect it to be the norm in 2023-24. It doesn’t change the fact the Penguins very much need Crosby to be much better than he was at 5v5 last night. He will and I expect him to be better Friday night when they play Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals
Erik Karlsson’s debut sprinkled in some moments where you understand what the hype is all about. Some of the moves and individual plays he made other defensemen just aren’t trying, let alone doing. He finished the night without registering a point and I still believe nights where he fails to get on the scoresheet will be the minority.
I thought one of the bright spots for the Penguins was Tristan Jarry. He finished the night with a .914 save percentage after facing 35 shots. He made some big saves early in the contest. He certainly played well enough to win the game. He didn’t look to be laboring in the crease, either. His movement was crisper than it was for a large part of the previous season. It was a good start to a season where all eyes will be on him to perform on a consistent basis.
I don’t have huge expectations for most of the bottom six from an offensive standpoint. Their profiles are more defensive in nature. An expectation I do have is that part of their defensive prowess is to not take penalties. Lars Eller, Jeff Carter, and Matt Nieto all took penalties last night. If you aren’t going to be scoring a ton you can’t take the opportunities from the other players to score by putting your team down a player. If the bottom six is able to generate some offense this year something like this won’t be as problematic. If they do struggle to chip in they can’t take penalties.
Connor Bedard looked the part of a #1 overall pick to me last night. He was buzzing around and feasting on the adrenaline of his first career game against his idol. It wasn’t aimless buzzing as Bedard led all Chicago players with an xGF% of 63.25. If the worst thing you can say about him was his faceoffs then he was doing just fine. His skating is great and his shot release is going to be frustrating goalies for years to come. He earned his first career point on an assist. There will be many more of those as well.
Not the start I think most were thinking about heading into the opener. They’ll have to bounce back on Friday against a Capitals team forecasted to miss the playoffs this year. A poor showing on Friday and the second guessing of the team will be ramped up two games into the season.
Thanks for reading!