Hometown goal from Zach Aston-Reese gives Penguins a boost

NEW YORK – Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Mark Recchi on Wednesday night came up with a new and inventive way to use the iPad that NHL teams keep on their bench for in-game video review.

When Staten Island native Zach Aston-Reese scored the first goal of a 7-2 Penguins victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the local television broadcast caught Aston-Reese’s father Will, a Crafton native who settled in New York, celebrating enthusiastically in the stands.

Recchi made sure Aston-Reese saw what his dad was up to.

“We had a good laugh out of it,” Aston-Reese said.

Aston-Reese has played at New Jersey and on Long Island in his two-year NHL career, but Wednesday night marked his first visit to the epicenter of hockey in the New York metropolitan area. He couldn’t hide his excitement.

“It was awesome,” Aston-Reese said. “Getting in yesterday, I had some free time to walk around. Just such an exciting city to be in, so full of life, gives you a lot of energy. This was just an exciting game for me.”

On his second-period goal, Aston-Reese camped out at the right hash marks, settled down a backhand saucer pass from Matt Cullen from behind the net and beat goalie Henrik Lundqvist with a quick shot.

“I just remember Cully making a nice play, kind of drew two defenders to him and shoveled it to me in front,” Aston-Reese said. “I just tried to get it on net as quick as possible, just tried to put it far side. I didn’t even really know it went in until the red light came on.”

Aston-Reese didn’t see his family celebrating until Recchi showed him the video. He heard them immediately, however.

“It was a pretty exciting feeling,” Aston-Reese said. “When I heard the call, I could hear my family screaming. Pretty nice.”

The goal was important for the Penguins in both the short term and in the big picture.

First, after being outshot 12-5 in the first period, they needed a boost.

“They kind of outplayed us and then they were outshooting us,” Aston-Reese said. “(Goalie Matt Murray) stood on his head for us tonight, as he’s been doing the last stretch of games. To get that is huge, and to capitalize on ours, it’s just a good feeling. You kind of feel like you know you got this one.”

Second, it continued a stretch of solid secondary scoring for the Penguins. Aston-Reese, for example, has four goals in his last 10 games.

“When you can spread your offense through your lineup, it just gives you so much better a chance to win,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re getting contributions throughout our lineup right now, and I think it’s no coincidence that we’re getting results because of it. These guys are stepping up at key times. For me, that’s an indication that we’re starting to become a team, and that’s really important for us down the stretch.”

Follow the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.

Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jonathan at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BombulieTrib.