Puustinen makes more of an effort to shoot
Sullivan pleased with the winger’s ability to drive the puck to the net
DALLAS — As the Penguins play out the string of a woeful season while clinging to faint playoff hopes, the focus will inevitably shift to the future.
Perhaps that means for one or more of the team’s final 13 games, a prospect who is lighting it up with WilkesBarre/Scranton such as Sam Poulin will get a chance. But for those already on the Penguins’ roster, it’s about showing they belong.
In Mike Sullivan’s eyes, Valtteri Puustinen has done as much in the 39 NHL games he’s skated this season. Puustinen, 24, has advanced his game in numerous ways, accordingto Sullivan.
Yet it’s the young winger’s belief in himself that has stood out to the Penguins headcoach the most.
“The biggest thing is his own confidence,” Sullivan said. “That he believes he can play in this league and he’s an NHL player. And he’s proven that.”
Sullivan has had a few discussions with Puustinen about maximizing his goalscoring abilities, long his calling card due to the shot coaches and players rave about. Finishing chances, however, has been a fleeting task for Puustinen at times.
He has only netted four goals this season with droughts of 12 and 14 games. The coaching staff has preached for Puustinen to be willing to both shoot off the pass and register attempts on net in a more timely fashion.
Last weekend, Puustinen demonstrated the ability to both. He netted two goals, scoring against both the Rangers and Red Wings. Both times, he flashed the wrist shot that helped him gain fame growing up in Kuopio, Finland — first off the rush, and then from the low slot.
“If I can score,” Puustinen said after the win against Detroit. “[That] is helping the team win the games.”
It was the areas from which Puustinen attempted to score such goals, though, that’s more noteworthy. While he didn’t crash the crease on either, as Sullivan has asked of his team lately, Puustinen’s looks were from closerange.
Sullivan has been pleased with Puustinen’s “concerted effort” to drive to the net or station his 5-foot-9, 183-pound frame near it recently.
“It’s hard to score 20 goals in this league from highlightreel goals,” Sullivan said. “You’re going to get a fair amount of them that are going to be, as we would call them, blue-paint goals, where they’re a foot and a half from the blue paint.”
Of course, on a team that’s gone 3-9-1 in its past 13 games, there remains room for improvement.
Puustinen has spent the past five games on the third line with Lars Eller and Reilly Smith, a group that has been excellent according to advanced analytics when utilized this season, but less so recently. That trio has an expected-goals share of 41% during the Penguins’ past five games, per Natural Stat Trick.
When Puustinen was still toiling with the Baby Pens last season, head coach J.D.
Forrest and team captain Taylor Fedun both noted how he needed to become a more consistent player. His defensive play hasn’t been an obvious inhibitor, but Puustinen and his linemates have been a little loose in their own end, especially against stiffer competition.
Still, Puustinen has enjoyed playing alongside two veterans with a combined 28 years of NHL experience to their names.
“I have a good feeling playing with Lars and Reilly because [they’re] really smart hockey players,” Puustinen said. “And they know what they’re doing. They play simple hockey.”
It isn’t just experience that differentiates Puustinen from his current linemates, it’s contract status, too. Puustinen is wrapping up a one-year deal that he signed with the Penguins back in June, and he is slated to be a restricted free agent this summer.
The awaiting baker’s dozen worth of games figure to factor into whether president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas elects to again bring back Puustinen just as he did in June. Since being recalled from Wilkes-Barre for a second time this season in mid-February, Puustinen’s deployment hints at what the coaching staff and organization think of him.
His average ice time has gone up, and Puustinen remains a constant on the second power-play unit. Rather than that one-game cameo in the 2021-22 campaign being the extent of his NHL experience, Puustinen has shown hecan stick in Pittsburgh.
Not to mention, he’s earned Sullivan’s support, and plenty more from his teammates.
“You can tell ever since he’s been up here that he has a really good shot and it’s a weapon for him,” Eller said of Puustinen. “I think as we go on, we’ll see hopefully more and more of that because he’s got the ability to score, but he’sa very good passer, too.”