Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Sabres 0

Observations from the Penguins’ 4-0 win against the Sabres:

Between his skating, his willingness to play a hard, edgy style and a heavy shot, Jared McCann has plenty of skill. That’s apparent to the naked eye.

But he’s never really nailed down a full-time role with the Penguins.

Much of that is due to the fact that the Penguins have often been so injured throughout his tenure with the franchise that he has been pressed into a variety of roles.

This season has been no different.

With Jason Zucker out, he filled in on the left wing of the second line.

Then when Evgeni Malkin went down, he took over as that line’s center.

Now, with Kasperi Kapanen waylaid, McCann is working on the left wall of the top power-play unit.

On Thursday, that deployment led to two goals for McCann.

Each of them were shots too. Blistering, heavy wristers that would have put holes through vibranium.

The Penguins’ lineup seems to be a day-to-day proposition so it’s hard to say if McCann’s success on Thursday will have any kind of long-lasting effect on where he stands on the depth chart. Given his versatility as well as the personnel issues this team always seems to have, McCann will likely always be moved around the lineup as long as he’s a member of the Penguins.

But that’s largely what makes McCann so valuable. When a player with more skill goes down with injury, McCann is a more than viable option to serve as a replacement.

“Jared can score goals,” coach Mike Sullivan said via video conference. “We’ve said that for a while now. He can score goals. He can really shoot the puck. He’s got a really deceptive release and he shoots it hard. At this particular time with the injuries that we have, we’re relying on him to help us offensively. That’s something that we think is a strength of his. He’s really good on the power play coming off that wall on his strong side. He’s got a knack for catching that puck in motion and getting his weight behind the puck.

”He can really shoot the puck. He’s a goal-scorer.”

What happened

The opening goal came from an unlikely source 17:21 into regulation. Controlling the puck on the end boards of the offensive zone, Penguins forward Anthony Angello fed a forehand pass to the right of the crease intended for forward Frederick Gaudreau, but had it broken up on a stick check by Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. Angello recovered the puck in the left corner and quickly backhanded a pass to the left circle for rookie forward Radim Zohorna, making his NHL debut as a replacement for Kapanen in the lineup. Quickly ripping a wrister past the glove of goaltender Dustin Tokarski on the far side, Zohorna recorded his first goal on his first career shot. Angello and Gaudreau were credited with assists.

A power-play score 1:27 into the second period put the Penguins up 2-0. After Penguins forward Sidney Crosby made a strong effort to keep a puck in the offensive zone at the left point, he fed a cross-ice pass to defenseman Kris Letang at the right point. From there, Letang distributed the puck to the high slot for forward Jared McCann, replacing Kapanen on the top power-play unit. Waiting for a shooting lane to open, McCann ripped a rising wrister that beat Tokarski’s blocker for his sixth goal of the season. Letang and Crosby collected assists.

McCann scored on another power-play opportunity at 8:56 of the third period. Controlling play at center point of the offensive zone, Letang dished a simple pass above the left circle where McCann gripped and ripped a blistering wrister past Tokarski’s blocker on the near side. Letang and Crosby once again had assists.

A would-be goal by Sabres forward Victor Olofsson at 14:03 of the third period was wiped out after the Penguins issued a successful coach’s challenge claiming the scoring sequence as being offside.

An empty net goal by forward Jake Guentzel — his 14th — at 18:54 of the third period capped the scoring. Forward Bryan Rust and Crosby had assists.

Statistically speaking

• The Sabres controlled shots, 36-31.

• McCann as well as Sabres forward Dylan Cozens and Dahlin each led the game with five shots.

• Letang led the game with 24:46 of ice time on 25 shifts.

• Dahlin led the Sabres with 23:29 of ice time on 22 shifts.

• The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 33-25 (57%).

• Crosby was 15 for 21 (71%).

• Sabres forward Eric Staal was 9 for 17 (53%).

• Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin and Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson each led the game with four blocked shots.

• DeSmith made 36 saves on 36 shots.

• Tokarski made 27 shifts on 30 shots.

Randomly speaking

• Zohorna had quite a moment in this game. Placed onto a makeshift fourth line with Angello and Gaudreau, Zohorna showed that he’s much more than a physically imposing body at 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds. He has some legit skills. That was evident on the nifty goal he scored that proved to be the game-winning score.

In celebration, he jumped into Angello’s arms and unleashed a yell that could have been heard back in his native Czech Republic.

When the Penguins signed him in April of 2020, it wasn’t immediately evident what management saw in him. He had less than half a point per game in the low-level ELH league in the Czech Republic during the 2019-20 season with 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 46 contests. His size obviously jumped out but there was little on the surface that really stood out about his game.

When the 2020-21 season opened up throughout most of Europe, the Penguins loaned Zohorna to BK Mladá Boleslav in the Czech Republic and he ripped it up with 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) in 21 games.

That loan was terminated in late December when the NHL neared the opening of its 2020-21 season. After attending the Penguins’ training camp in January, Zohorna was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Playing on a smaller North American rink for the first time in his career, he put up solid numbers with nine points (three goals, six assists) in 11 AHL games.

Recalled to the NHL roster a week ago, he came through with a fantastic debut.

Zohorna is already quite a story and he just started writing it.

• Before warmups, the Penguins veterans made Zohorna do the obligatory “guy making his debut” lap:

• The fourth line in general was pretty good. It got the puck deep into the Sabres’ zone and kept it there more often than not. It was a pretty rare display of positive play for any of the fourth lines the Penguins have used this season.

By the way, Gaudreau has a two-game scoring streak.

• DeSmith was locked in once again. Granted, it was against the Sabres. They stink. But he had to make some tough saves in the third period.

First, there was a denial of Staal on a goalmouth scramble roughly two minutes into the third period.

Then he coolly denied Sabres forward Cody Eakin on a short-handed breakaway at the 12:17 mark.

DeSmith has turned into being much more than simply the goaltender the Penguins turn to on back-to-back nights.

• The Penguins’ penalty kill is on a bit of a heater having gone four games without allowing a goal. They are 13 for 13 over that span.

That said, keep in mind the competition over that stretch. The Sabres and New Jersey Devils are very limited in what they can do offensively. But given how much the Penguins have struggled on the penalty kill this season, they’ll take any success no matter the opponent.

• The Sabres are just a special type of bad.

Seriously. How do you lose 16 consecutive games?

This just looks like a fractured group of players. This season can not end quick enough for this team.

• To make matters worse, the Sabres found out before the game that their interim head coach Don Granato and interim assistant coach Matt Ellis were not able to participate in the game due to protocol related to covid-19.

This team is just one calamity after another.

• With Ellis sidelined, Seth Appert, head coach of the Rochester Americans, the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, had to make a mad dash to Pittsburgh in order to join the team behind the bench by the second period.

• All things considered, Tokarski was actually pretty solid for the second consecutive game against the Penguins. He rarely seemed overwhelmed by the task.

Historically speaking

• Zohorna became the third player to wear No. 67 for the Penguins. His predecessors were defenseman Alex Goligoski and forward Paul Bissonnette.

• Zohorna is the 541st player to score a regular-season goal for the Penguins.

• Zohorna became the 33rd player to play for the Penguins this season. The franchise record of 48 was set by the ill-fated 1983-84 squad.

• Zohorna became the 24th Czech to play for the Penguins.

• By scoring a game-winning goal, Zohorna joined some pretty random company:

Radim Zohorna's #FirstNHL goal turned out to be the sixth game-winning first goal for the Penguins.

The others:

Beau Bennett
Scott Wilson
Carter Rowney
Zach Aston-Reese
Juuso Riikola

— PittsburghHockey.net (@PghHockey) March 26, 2021

• Zohorna became the 22nd Penguins player to score in his NHL debut.

• DeSmith (six shutouts) surpassed Tristan Jarry and Dunc Wilson (five each) and moved into sixth place on the franchise’s career shutout list.

• This was DeSmith’s and the Penguins’ second shutout of the season. The first also came against the Sabres during a 3-0 road win on March 13. DeSmith made 24 saves in that victory.

• Three of DeSmith’s six career shutouts have come at the Sabres’ expense. Only Marc-Andre Fleury (four) has more shutouts of the Sabres in franchise history.

• Crosby recorded his 1,300th career point with his assist on Guentzel’s goal.

• Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson appeared in his 200th career game.

Publicly speaking

• Zohorna was brief but poignant about his night:

“I don’t have words. It’s why I play hockey. It’s what I want to be. … The boys (teammates) made my dreams. I have no words.”

• Zohorna spoke about his family in the Czech Republic:

“I hope all my family saw my game. I can’t wait to call them the next day and tell them my feelings.”

• Sullivan was through the roof over Zohorna:

“So great, it was so great. It was a terrific goal first and foremost. It shows how good his hands are and his skillset. I thought he had a real good game. To see the emotion on his face — not just him, our whole team — it’s just really a cool moment. Any time a player gets their first NHL goal, I think everybody on the bench can relate to what that moment means. Players never forget that first goal. I think it meant a lot to everybody. You could see it. Just the raw emotion on the bench as well. Everybody was so happy for him.”

• DeSmith on Zohorna:

“That was huge. There wasn’t a better person to score that goal for us. That was the hardest I’ve seen the bench celebrate after a goal this season I think. Even I was back there raising my hands up. I got so excited. It was really nice to see.”

• Crosby on Zohorna:

“You love seeing that. You know it’s his first game. You think back to those emotions and those feelings that you have in your own first game. … To see him score in his first game and to see that emotion, that’s a huge boost and gets us going. But it’s also a great feeling on the bench when you see that.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

Follow the Penguins all season long.