New Penguins forward Ryan Poehling already making an impression

Ryan Poehling knows how to make a first impression.

A first-round pick (No. 25 overall) of the Montreal Canadiens in 2017, Poehling made his NHL debut late in the 2018-19 season.

And what a debut it was April 6, 2019.

He became only the third player — and first since 1943 — to score a hat trick in his first game for a franchise that is more than a century in age.

To cap it off, he scored the winning shootout goal to give his team a 6-5 victory against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs during a “Hockey Night in Canada” broadcast, no less.

Expectations were already ample for the first-rounder in hockey-mad Montreal. And they grew to an enorme level after such a spectacular debut.

But Poehling never really met them while wearing the bleu, blanc et rouge of the iconic Canadiens. His high-water mark with that club came last season when he scored 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in 57 games.

“It’s difficult when you’re 19 years old, and you have all that weight on your shoulders,” Poehling said. “You can say it doesn’t affect you, but at the end of the day, it does. I didn’t take it for granted. I didn’t not enjoy it. It’s hard for a 19-year-old. I wish looking back on it, I wish I had as much experience that I do now in how to deal with that stuff. But for me, it was all new for me. I didn’t take that as good as I could, but I learned a lot from it. So, I’m glad it happened to me.”

What happened to Poehling this past summer was a change in address as the Canadiens traded him to the Penguins as part of the deal that also brought defenseman Jeff Petry to Pittsburgh.

Having failed to gain traction consistently in Montreal, he’s grateful for that change.

“(The Canadiens) have a lot of young guys,” said Poehling, now 23. “They had to make decisions on who they were going to move forward with. They made great decisions. They’ve got good players there. I thought I’d maybe be a part of that, but they didn’t think so either way. At the end of the day, it didn’t work out. So I’m glad they moved on from me and gave me a fresh start. I’m looking forward to being here.”

Through the limited scope of training camp, Poehling (pronounced “PAY-lihng”) already benefited from the misfortune of Jeff Carter and Teddy Blueger, the Penguins’ third- and fourth-line centers, respectively. Each has missed some portion of training camp because undisclosed injuries, and that has allowed Poehling to serve as a bottom-six center for a little over a week, including a handful of preseason games.

“At center, you can see how effective he can be defensively,” coach Mike Sullivan said to media in Detroit after a 3-2 win against the Red Wings on Monday. “He was good on the penalty kill. He’s a smart player. He’s picking up some of the concepts that we’re trying to implement.”

During Friday’s preseason finale, a 7-1 home win against the Buffalo Sabres at PPG Paints Arena, Poehling served as the Penguins’ fourth-line center in place of Blueger and logged 12:26 of ice time on 15 shifts and was 5 for 10 on faceoffs.

Even if he has the pedigree of a first-round pick, the left-handed Poehling (6-foot-2, 196 pounds) is under no misconceptions about how he can earn playing time in this lineup that is stacked down the middle with a handful of future Hall of Famers.

“I want to be someone you can rely on defensively and also produce offensively,” said Poehling, a native of Lakeville, Minn. “Playing fast and direct and not overthinking things and kind of giving opponents a hard time is something that I can bring to the table.”

Poehling still is trying to find his place at the Penguins’ table. But he has enjoyed the impression he has gotten from his new team.

“Systematically, I think I just understand it more here,” Poehling said. “They’re very direct on what they want. Everyone kind of buys into that system. You know when you screw up, and you know when you’re in the right space. It’s easy to trust your teammates, too, which is nice.”

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