Penguins forward Valtteri Puustinen seeks more 'unlikely' goals near the net

Scoring goals has never been a problem for Valtteri Puustinen, at least not in the American Hockey League or the Liiga in his native Finland.

He has routinely put up healthy figures at lower levels of the sport.

However, that acumen has not necessarily translated to his sporadic appearances in the NHL as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 64 career games as an NHLer, he has only seven goals.

But his most recent goal is representative of the type of goals he needs to offer more often if he is to maintain a more permanent residency as an NHLer.

During Friday’s 4-2 road win against the New Jersey Devils, the speedy, skilled winger tied the score with a power-play goal that was hardly a thing of beauty.

From the right circle, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin pumped a one-timer from above New Jersey’s right circle that deflected on net. Goaltender Jake Allen made the initial save and kicked out a rebound. Puustinen, all 5-foot-10, 182 pounds of him, was competing for real estate above the crease with 6-5, 223-pound Devils defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic, only to have the puck bounce off his left skate and carom into the cage.

Power play goal for Pittsburgh!

Scored by Valtteri Puustinen with 18:55 remaining in the 2nd period.

Assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Matt Grzelcyk.

New Jersey: 2
Pittsburgh: 2#PITvsNJD #NJDevils #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/RS7Q9OwMNf

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 12, 2025

It was the second goal of the season for Puustinen at the NHL level, and it was not typical of how he usually generates offense.

“That’s a little unlikely,” Puustinen said after practice Saturday in Cranberry. “But sometimes, if you want to score, go to the net and something good can happen. That happened yesterday.”

Puustinen opened the season on the NHL roster, but after clearing waivers, he was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in late November and remained there until being recalled Thursday.

Over the past four-plus months, Puustinen, who led Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in scoring each of the previous two seasons, focused on trying to create more offense near the crease.

“I (have made) it a little bit of a focus and go to the net, stay at the net,” Puustinen said. “I have a couple of scores there where I have a rebound or tip the puck.”

Recommendations that forwards go to the net to find goals are pretty universal, but management has stressed it to Puustinen.

“Some of the best scoring chances, the highest conversion rates are created off those broken plays where a puck goes to the net, the rebound goes somewhere,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “That next play is really hard to defend. If you’re not willing to get inside, if you’re not willing to take a cross check or a facewash or whatever it may be, then you’re going to rob yourself of those opportunities.

“With respect to (Puustinen’s) game, that’s certainly something that we’ve encouraged to him. But I would suggest to you that we’re encouraging that to all of our players.”

Notes: Penguins forward Philip Tomasino participated in Saturday’s practice and is expected to be a game-time decision for Sunday’s home game against the Boston Bruins. He has missed the past three games with a concussion. … Forward Emil Bemstrom was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. … Forward prospect Melvin Fernstrom skated before Saturday’s practice session. The Penguins acquired his NHL rights Feb. 1 as part of a trade that sent defenseman Marcus Pettersson and forward Drew O’Connor to the Vancouver Canucks. The 19-year-old Fernstrom just completed his season skating for Orebro of the Swedish Hockey League and remains unsigned with regard to his NHL status.