Penguins defenseman Juuso Riikola trying to maximize a rare opportunity

Tuesday’s road game against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center wasn’t all that significant in the grand scheme of things for the Penguins and reserve defenseman Juuso Riikola.

It was Game 11 of 82 for the Penguins.

And for Riikola, it merely was his fourth game of the season.

But it did represent an achievement for Riikola in one regard.

He now has doubled the number of games he played during the 2020-21 season.

And the accomplishment of merely playing is something Riikola doesn’t take for granted.

“Every game, I feel better,” Riikola said Monday in Cranberry. “The more minutes you get, you kind of start feeling like you’re playing games again. The more games I play, I think I’m going to feel better and better.”

The Penguins recalled Riikola from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Oct. 23 as a reserve when All-Star defenseman Kris Letang went into isolation for covid-19. After serving as a healthy scratch for two games, Riikola then found a spot in the lineup Oct. 28 when three other incumbent defensemen — Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel — all went into isolation for the virus as well.

Through his first three games this season, Riikola has one assist while logging an average of 14 minutes, 1 seconds of ice time per contest. Primarily on the third pairing with Mark Friedman, Riikola’s possession metrics are in the black as he has been on the ice for 44 shots for during five-on-five situations and 37 against, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Riikola has even gotten some time on the man advantage, averaging 2 minutes, 3 seconds of power-play ice time per game, primarily with the second unit.

“Juuso brings a different skill set than some of our other defensemen,” said assistant coach Todd Reirden, who oversees the blue line. “(He has) ability to play on the power play and has had success on the power play. … That element is important for him to show us whenever he gets the opportunity. He obviously shoots the puck really well and does a good job of finding some offense from different spots on the ice. He continues to get different opportunities and grow.”

One of those opportunities manifested itself during a 4-2 home loss to the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 30. Taking a pass at the right point of the offensive zone, Riikola took the puck deep up the right wing and flicked a little backhanded pass to the front of the slot. After Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese partially fanned on the shot, forward Danton Heinen capitalized on the chance created by Riikola’s rush and scored his fourth goal of the season.

“What I saw, I didn’t have much when I got the puck,” Riikola said. “That’s when I decided to do what I did. I was skating and waiting and hoping something comes up. There (were) so many guys at the net. I saw (Aston-Reese) at the net there, and the goal happened.”

It hasn’t been all good for Riikola. During Saturday’s 5-4 shootout loss at home to the Minnesota Wild, Riikola opted to make a risky pass from behind his own goal line to Friedman at the blue line. A turnover ensued and led to a quality scoring chance for Wild forward Nico Sturm.

After that miscue, Riikola only saw four more shifts the remainder of the game.

“A lot of times, what happens is the players make those decisions (on ice time) for us as the game goes on,” Reirden said. “It’s based on merit and how things are going in a particular matchup in a particular pair. As they earn more opportunity, they’ll be out there more often. That’s the opportunity that’s out there for these players.”

Riikola acknowledges he has plenty of room for growth within his intriguing skill set.

“It’s pretty hard to grow your game when you’re not playing,” Riikola said.

“The most important thing when you are not playing is that you work hard and you stay in shape and you be mentally ready when you get the chance.

“What I feel I need to do is to just play my game and play as good as I can.”

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