Penguins’ Kids Shine in 5-4 OT Loss to the Blues
We got a glimpse into the Penguins’ future last night at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. If the sequence near the end of regulation is any indication, it may be brighter than we think.
With the clock ticking down to under 30 seconds remaining and the Pens trailing, 4-3, Ville Koivunen scooped up the remains of an errant Erik Karlsson shot and wheeled off the right sideboards with the puck.
After briefly surveying the scene as he approached the right faceoff circle, Koivunen eschewed a pass to veteran Bryan Rust in the slot and instead slipped a no-look pass to fellow rookie Rutger McGroarty to the right of the Blues’ cage.
McGroarty didn’t hesitate. He spun and fired the puck in off the far post to knot the score at 4-all and touch off an emotional celebration.
The fact that the two rookies were on the ice at such a pivotal moment spoke volumes about the direction of the team. Only minutes earlier, coach Mike Sullivan had shuffled his lines, reuniting Rickard Rakell with Sidney Crosby and Rust while placing the kids on a unit with Kevin Hayes.