Excitement bubbles over as Johnson makes debut
Jack Johnson made his Penguins debut Wednesday against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
Joining Johnson in the lineup was his defense partner, Justin Schultz, along with another veteran, Jamie Oleksiak, on the back end. Zach Trotman, Juuso Riikola, Calen Addison and Antti Palojarvi were the other Penguins defensemen.
Forward-wise, Bryan Rust headlined the group. Other than that, no Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist or Phil Kessel.
Rust was joined by Dominik Simon, Tobias Lindberg, Linus Olund, Sam Lafferty, Derek Grant, Daniel Sprong, Adam Johnson, Joseph Cramarossa, Teddy Blueger, Ryan Haggerty, Justin Almeida and Sam Miletic.
Tristan Jarry got the start in goal and was expected to play the entire game.
Watch these three
The Penguins put three players together who have been impressive throughout camp. One of their lines was Miletic-Lafferty-Haggerty.
Lafferty, a Hollidasyburg native, has mixed it up some, showing a maturity after finishing his days at Brown. Miletic can skate. And Haggerty has scored a couple of clutch goals in camp scrimmages.
“Speed is a big part of my game,” Lafferty said. “I think I’ve shown that here at camp. The coaches have encouraged that and told me to keep going.”
‘A lot of fun’
Johnson sounded like a little kid Wednesday while talking about making his Penguins debut.
“I’m excited,” Johnson said. “Playing with Justin [Schultz] all of camp, I get to play my first game with him. I’m excited about that. I’ve been looking forward to playing my first game as a Penguin for a long time now.”
Brassard on Ottawa mess
Derick Brassard no longer plays in Ottawa, although many of the Senators — OK, ex-Senators — remain his friends.
Brassard has been watching Ottawa’s fire sale and had some kind words for alleverything defenseman Erik Karlsson, whom Ottawa traded to San Jose.
“San Jose is getting an outstanding player, probably one of the best players in the game,” Brassard said. “For Ottawa, they’re rebuilding their team. They have really good young players. Changing things around with [Mark] Stone and [Matt] Duchene, those are two really good pieces up front. I know [Thomas] Chabot on defense is probably their guy now. He’s still very young, but I think the future is bright. They have really good young players. We’ll see what’s going to happen.”
Unusual pairing
Another interesting thing Wednesday night involved the Penguins’ second defense pair of Jamie Oleksiak and Calen Addison. Talk about an odd couple. Oleksiak is one of the biggest players in the NHL at 6 feet 7, 255 pounds. Addison, the Penguins’ top draft pick over the summer, is 5-10, 179.
“It might look a little funny on the ice, right,” Oleksiak said. “I think we do a pretty good job complementing each other. He’s a very good skater and puckmover. He’s got a good shot as well. He’s going to be a big part of the organization.”
Young captains
With the Penguins holding out several of their stars from preseason action, the players wearing letters on their sweater has definitely skewed younger.
Chad Ruhwedel, Olli Maatta and Jake Guentzel had the honors Tuesday in Buffalo.
The idea of younger alternate captains drew a laugh from Rust, 26, as he looked around a dressing room mostly empty because many of those playing against the Red Wings changed in one of two auxiliary rooms.
“Based on the lineup, it’s a possibility,” Rust said. “First couple road games last preseason I was wearing one. It’s definitely a little bit different.”