Penguins dropped their second straight preseason contest to the Detroit Red Wings last night by a score of 4-3. Great news, winning or losing these games is totally irrelevant. You can have a winless preseason and have it be incredibly successful if the players you needed to step up do in fact, step up.

As of right now Radim Zohorna, Valtteri Puustinen, and Sam Poulin are doing their best to make Mike Sullivan think long and hard about the roster decisions he has to make.

Both Zohorna and Puustinen had a goal and an assist last night. Zohorna is in his second stint with the Penguins and has had a very strong preseason so far with three points and an xGF% of 65.80. He is by no means a prospect at 27 years old. It doesn’t mean he can’t scratch out a role for himself with his current play.

Puustinen’s skill set is in the style of a top six player. The question is whether or not he can create offense in a faster NHL. He flashed his passing and finishing skill last night. Here were some of the positives.

Sound the ZoHORNa! 🚨

And what a pass from Puustinen! pic.twitter.com/4SRdoGw3T3

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 26, 2023

Zohorna and Puustinen connect again! 💯 pic.twitter.com/aAaoJtLAdq

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 27, 2023

High-level pass reception from Valtteri Puustinen to gain the zone and find Hinostroza on the other side. Super smooth. Really good stuff.

He might be forcing his way onto the roster, too. pic.twitter.com/rNdW3F3t8e

— Danny Shirey (@DannyShireyPGH) September 27, 2023

The uphill climb for Puustinen will be how his coach perceives his defensive ability. Mike Sullivan has a tendency to prefer his bottom six players be boring and vanilla. Puustinen does not fit the bill here. Sullivan has stated Puustinen needs to work on his defensive zone. There’s a sequence last night that I think will stick out to Sullivan more than the two goals he created.

High-level pass reception from Valtteri Puustinen to gain the zone and find Hinostroza on the other side. Super smooth. Really good stuff.

He might be forcing his way onto the roster, too. pic.twitter.com/rNdW3F3t8e

— Danny Shirey (@DannyShireyPGH) September 27, 2023

Herein lies the struggle for a player like Puustinen trying to make a Mike Sullivan team. This is not a good play. He screwed up. Does this mistake outweigh the other positives from the night for him? I don’t think it does, but the head coach likely feels otherwise. Even though Puustinen still finished the night above average defensively

#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Pittsburgh Penguins on 2023-09-26:#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/PiC0EchlGL

— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) September 27, 2023

I think the Penguins need some more depth players closer to Puustinen’s mold than players who’s entire existence is to not make a mistake than it is to try and make a play.

The Penguins will be back in action on Thursday and we will start to see some more familiar names in the lineup.

Thanks for reading!

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