Pittsburgh beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 last night. The scores as far as winning and losing really don’t mean much in these games so that part is a whatever. However, there were some notable events from the game baked into the goals.

The most notable of these events were Alex Galchenyuk and Nate Legare both showcased their shooting abilities. Galchenyuk scored on the power play and Legare showcased his big shot many people have been impressed with.

🚨 ALEX GOALCHENYUK! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/RUpR4GAMCq

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 19, 2019

In Galchenyuk’s case the Penguins are hoping this translates to the NHL immediately. In Legare’s case he will be making life difficult for all the goaltenders in the QMJHL instead of the AHL. Even though he is penned in to being demoted to juniors this is still a great experience for a player like Legare. He gets to feel great about himself scoring those two goals and being in the lineup with a player like Evgeni Malkin. You can’t fake those kind of life moments. It’s also nice to give these young players a taste of the big time before they go back. These are experiences that stick in the back of their mind as they keep working towards ultimately coming back full-time.

Between Carlsson's legs...
Between Vehvilainen's legs...
And right in the net!@Nathan_Legare is lookin' good out there! pic.twitter.com/PB1MjqqLBV

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 20, 2019

Legare scoring goals vs. CBJ, part two. pic.twitter.com/WdaltnVvFr

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 20, 2019

Justin Schultz had two assists and finished the game with a positive shot share with David Warsofsky (CF 12 CA 5). Take it with a grain of salt just like a lot of the things being discussed in preseason. The Blue Jackets also had a lineup dialed way down from the NHL one they’ll be putting out there in a few weeks. It is nice for Schultz to have some on-ice success before the season though. His 2019-20 season was horrific for multiple reasons.
The Dominik Simon experiment at center was neither bad or good yesterday. Those also won’t be his linemates if they were to really use him in that role. If they are serious about the center role they should start playing him with his future linemates.

Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic puts a ton of time into his season previews for each NHL team. The Penguins were no exception.

With Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin still leading the way, write off the Penguins at your own peril, writes @domluszczyszyn:https://t.co/Y4WM2IUNX9

— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) September 20, 2019

The main takeaways are that the Penguins have really good forward depth

Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin are a top five pairing in the league

Matt Murray is average with potential for more

And defense depth is a weakness

That’s the second mention of Johnson potentially bringing a player’s numbers down and it’s not without merit. He is a very serious factor holding the Penguins back from success and his minus-0.7 win projection is the second worst mark among defensemen set to be in the lineup this season. That’s ahead of only Erik Gudbranson, who’s currently slotted for the second pair on this very team. Pittsburgh entering the season with two of the league’s bottom five defenders playing prominent roles is likely a determining factor in the team’s diminished standing and it leads to the team having two third pairs after their elite top pair, the league’s third worst bottom four. That’s not what you want to hear about a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

Thanks for reading!

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