On Monday, Pittsburgh Penguins’ hockey officially kicked off for the 2025 pre-season.
And the performances of some of the Penguins’ most promising prospects was certainly a sight for sore eyes – even if the result didn’t go their way.
The Penguins fell to the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1, in a shootout after an all-around tight, solid game. Forward Tristan Broz scored the lone goal for the Penguins in regulation on a first-period power play, and he also registered the team’s only shootout goal. Owen Beck potted one for the Canadiens in the second period, while Sean Farrell and Oliver Kapanen capitalized in the shootout to seal the win for the Habs.
Goaltender Joel Blomqvist started the game for the Penguins and stopped all 11 shots he faced, and youngster Sergei Murashov relieved him midway through the second period and surrendered just one goal on 20 shots.
There were a lot of things to like about the Penguins in this game, and the youngsters certainly showed up. Here are some thoughts and observations from Monday’s pre-season opener.
– Broz really showed up to the rink tonight in all three zones.
He made some really solid reads on the penalty kill all night long, he was on the second power play unit and put home a rocket on a nice, quick feed from Valtteri Puustinen, and he was showing off his 200-foot game and hockey smarts during five-on-five play.
When folks talk about the Penguins’ top prospects and who has a shot at the opening night NHL roster, Broz is sometimes left out of those conversations. But he shouldn’t be counted out. I’m not sure there’s another player like Broz in the Penguins’ organization in terms of his versatility, his smarts, his ability to finish, and his effectiveness on the defensive side of the puck.
He’s just a solid all-around player, and the strides he made at the center position in the AHL last season have certainly shown in his game. If this guy hits his ceiling, he could be a reliable second- or third-line center option for the Penguins in the very near future.
– Another two-way player who looked solid Monday was Tommy Novak.
Novak, 28, was acquired at the trade deadline from the Nashville Predators, and a post-deadline injury only let him see two games with Pittsburgh last season. He finished the season with 13 goals and 22 points in 54 games.
I knew Novak was a decent skater, but I was surprised by how fast he looked out there. On a third-period penalty kill, he killed about 20 seconds off the clock by skating in circles around the offensive zone with the puck, and he was able to get himself back into almost every play.
There is a lot that still needs to work itself out in the duration of training camp. It’s unclear at this point whether Novak might play in a top-six role next to Evgeni Malkin or if he’s going to be this team’s third-line center. Either way, I think he is going to be a solid, reliable player for the Penguins this season, and his role may end up being influenced by whether or not youngsters like Broz and Filip Hallander push for roster spots.
I’m eager to see more from him this season.
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– I can’t say enough how good Murashov was in this game.
First and foremost, it would be unfair to take anything away from Blomqvist, too. He wasn’t tested as much as Murashov was, but anytime you don’t allow a goal against in an outing, it’s a good day. Blomqvist did his job – and did it well – then handed the keys to Murashov to close out the game.
I wrote about this Sunday, but it’s amazing to me just how easy and effortless Murashov makes goaltending look. The easy saves are second-nature, the hard saves look easy, and the very hard saves are being made almost every time.
Even on the goal against, Murashov made two or three saves before that, and Matt Dumba’s stick was a culprit in the puck finally sneaking past him. He made a ridiculous cross-crease toe save in overtime, and he didn’t even flinch when Ivan Demidov – a likely Calder candidate for the Habs next season – tried to deke him out in the shootout.
His poise, confidence, and ability far exceed his age of 21. If he’s not the starting goaltender in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) this season, the Penguins are doing something wrong. This kid just has it.
– Some snippets of new head coach Dan Muse’s system were slipping through the cracks during the exhibition game. I can’t claim to be an expert in the field of systems work, but one big difference that I did notice was that there is a lot more movement in general.
A lot more.
There seemed to be a lot less perimeter play and more center drive. The power play was a constant rotation with no one standing dormant or stagnating. There is definitely an emphasis on an attack mentality in all three zones and on swarming the puck carrier defensively.
I’m curious to see how these changes look with some of the more veteran players on the roster. But there seems to be buy-in from the younger guys, and the emphasis on movement was refreshing to watch.
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– It is very important to emphasize that this was only one pre-season game, and it was the first pre-season game. The Canadiens’ lineup wasn’t stacked – even if there were a few higher-profile players like Patrik Laine and Noah Dobson in the lineup – and neither was the Penguins.’
But it’s hard to ignore the performance that Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke put on together as a pairing.
Pickering really looks like he has the potential to develop into a solid, reliable, hard-to-play-against top-four blueliner. He has figured out a way to use his 6-foot-5 frame more advantageously, and he routinely shut down opposing scoring chances all night long. He, like Brunicke, is also good in transition and knows how to man the offensive blue line.
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And Brunicke? I don’t know what else there is to say about this kid.
Just when I thought there were times in the first three training camp practices when he was trying to do too much, he went out in a competitive setting and made that a distant memory. His secondary assist on Broz’s power play goal was a thing of beauty, as he faked a shot and made the Canadiens’ defense overcommit, exposing a wide-open passing lane to Broz, who quickly dished it to Puustinen, who quickly dished it back.
Brunicke also looked solid on the defensive side of the puck, using a strong stick to disrupt and his hockey sense to read angles and cut them off. He saw a few shifts in overtime, too, and was one of three Penguins’ defensemen to see the ice – the others being Dumba and Ryan Shea.
There is still a lot of pre-season left. Six more games, to be exact. But these two already look comfortable playing together and have chemistry, and they were the best defensive pairing on the ice Monday by a mile. And that’s saying something, since Dumba and Connor Clifton were solid, too.
If they carry this play through the end of the pre-season – and against better competition – there is no way they should be leaving the city of Pittsburgh when final roster cuts are made.
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