Penguins/Red Wings Preseason Thoughts on winning night in the Motor City

Noel Acciari scores twice, but goalie Alex Nedeljkovic leaves the game early

The Penguins and Red Wings made up their game from Saturday night 48 hours later. Pittsburgh was able to bring basically the lineup they intended, with what ended up being one fateful change. Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was tabbed to play the whole game tonight, in a game he otherwise wasn’t going to play.

Nedeljkovic would only play 13:04 and leave the game with what must have been some sort of issue.

The Pens got the game’s first goal on a power play. Drew OConnor finished a nice pass from Valtteri Puustinen.

Pittsburgh scored again in the second period, O’Connor did the heavy lifting wile shorthanded, skating the puck all the way up the zone. Lars Eller got unmarked and went to the net, O’Connor hit him with a nice pass and Eller made a nice finis upstairs.

The next PK wasn’t so lucky, Ryan Graves saw a pass go by him and Mason Raymond rifled a shot into the net past backup Joel Blomqvist.

The third period would be Noel Acciari’s time to shine. Rutger McGroarty made a beautiful pass out of the corner for Acciari to make a clinical finish on. 3-1 game.

A little later, some hard work by Jesse Puljujarvi and a Mac Hollowel slap sot led to Acciari’s second goal of the night. 4-1. McGroarty was right there on the doorstep to score if Acciari couldn’t.

Detroit pulled their goalie and Vasily Ponomarev made them pay with a long-range empty net goal and push the eventual final score to 5-1.

Some other thoughts on the game:

• Blomqvist was very impressive, especially considering it was a situation where he wasn’t scheduled to play at at all. The big question will be the status of Nedeljkovic, it’s not unusual for players to leave out of precaution this time of year. But, obviously, it’s never a good thing when it comes to that (and with three more games coming up in the next four days, there’s a lot of minutes where it would be nice to have the teams No. 2 goalie).
• Acciari looked good and showed why he usually scores double digit goals in a healthy season. He’s got the ability to finish. But don’t discount McGroarty and Puljujarvi, both were stellar in this game. It might have been the most notable night so far for McGroarty’s vision and in-zone passing (and not just on the assist he created).
• In general, the PK with players like Eller, O’Connor and Acciari was so much better than it looked last night.
• Speaking of O’Connor, what a player he has become. If they start him on a third line with Eller, that would be tremendous for team depth and balance. He’s playing so well and so noticeable that it’s probably going to be a matter of time before being placed in a scoring line role.
• It was nice to see Puustinen create a goal as well. He’s a player that needs to make an impact through getting on the score sheet to retain his spot in the roster.
• Graves had some decent moments (team-high three blocked shots, an assist) but it’s hard not to think of him watching Dylan Larkin’s pass go by. Sometimes that is bound to happen, but boy for a player where you want to see steadiness for optics and confidence alone, this game might not have been a success on that front.
• Besides that, there’s not too much to be down on in a 5-1 win, especially playing a superior roster like what Detroit had out there tonight. Quality game for most who dressed, with the big negative being whatever the status of Nedeljkovic is moving forward.
• Really liked the skating legs by Aho, he was all over the ice and even jumped into play and setup a tremendous quick give-and-go for a forward to have a quality scoring chance. Playing a team-high 21:46, Aho was arguably the best defender on the evening for the Pens.

The Pens are back at it tomorrow night, against the same Detroit jerseys at home in Pittsburgh. It will be the same jerseys but very different teams, as only McGroarty and Ponomarev are slotted to play again on Tuesday for the Penguins.