Penguins forward Dominik Kahun continues to find rewards
Dominik Kahun wasn’t quite sure if he could raise his arms.
During the third period of a 5-3 road win at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, Kahun darted through the Red Wings’ beleaguered defense on something of a broken play and scored his eighth goal of the season with a wrist shot that toasted goaltender Jonathan Bernier’s blocker. Afterward, Kahun meandered in the right corner as his teammates gathered around him.
(Video courtesy the NHL)
Kahun was in more of an investigatory mood than a celebratory one.
“The first thing I asked the guys was, ‘Was it offside?’ ” Kahun said. “I didn’t even celebrate it that much because I knew it was pretty close.”
The goal stood, and it ended up being the winner for the Penguins in what proved to be a too-close-for-comfort triumph against a poor Red Wings squad.
Even with a lack of visual merriment, Kahun had ample satisfaction once the goal’s validity was confirmed.
“I was still happy inside,” he said with a grin after Monday’s practice in Cranberry.
The German-raised Kahun has had plenty of reason to be zufrieden (German for satisfied)of late. After failing to score a goal in the first 11 games of the season, Kahun has scored eight goals and 15 points in his past 18 contests.
With so many of the team’s regular offensive entities such as forwards Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Patric Hornqvist and defenseman Kris Letang sidelined at times for various ailments, Kahun has emerged as one of the Penguins’ leading scorers. His eight goals are fourth-best the team.
As a rookie last season, he scored 13 in 82 games with the Chicago Blackhawks.
He insists the number isn’t a point of focus for him.
“Obviously, you want to get better every year,” said Kahun, who has 17 points in 29 games this season. “But I don’t think like that ‘I got before Christmas eight, so it’s going to be 16.’ I don’t believe in that because it’s normal in sports that sometimes you go through maybe 10 or 15 games where you just can’t score. You do everything. Then you get games where you score right away. I don’t really think about how many I got right now. I just want to keep going.”
A reason Kahun got his offense going is he finally gained comfort with his new surroundings. Acquired in an offseason trade, Kahun said he failed to immediately get acclimated with his new team.
“It was like a new beginning,“ Kahun said. “I almost felt like a rookie again because it was my first season last year in the NHL, and I got traded right away in the summer. Everything was new again. So I had the same feeling last year. It would be different if I (stayed in) Chicago again because I know what I do. Even if I wasn’t playing that good, I wouldn’t think about it. But here, I obviously thought about it because I wanted to show myself again and show what I can do.”
“He worked hard the first month, too, but it’s always an adjustment coming to a new team and new system,” defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “He’s very comfortable right now. The speed he brings … he’s so quick and explosive. Whenever he takes pucks to the net, I think good things are happening. You see that now.”
Kahun admitted his lack of offense early in the season weighed on his conscience.
“In sports, it doesn’t matter what you play, you always have that thinking, when you’re alone especially. You’re thinking you have to be good and everything. But I feel very comfortable now and I think I’m doing a good job.”
By any measure, Kahun has been performing the task at hand at a satisfactory level after some initial awkwardness with his new surroundings.
“It took me maybe five games in the season, like the preseason and regular,” Kahun said. “Then I started playing my game more and more. I couldn’t score goals or get points. But I think I played okay. Now, I just keep playing good and now I also get rewarded for that.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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