Penguins' Joseph Blandisi: Facing Maple Leafs 'always special'

Even after having played parts of five seasons in the NHL, games against the Toronto Maple Leafs remain poignant for Pittsburgh Penguins forward Joseph Blandisi.

After his recall from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday morning, the native of Markham, Ontario, logged 12 minutes, 58 seconds of ice time on 17 shifts in a 6-1 home victory against the Maple Leafs.

“It was definitely special last night to be able to play last night against the (Maple) Leafs,” Blandisi said. “I’ve played Toronto a couple of times now, but it’s always special to go against them.”

Blandisi, who found out he would be recalled late Friday night after Nick Bjugstad’s injury, didn’t consider his play against Toronto as anything special.

“I just got by (Saturday) night,” Blandisi said. “I didn’t feel my greatest. It was a long day of travel. Not a lot of sleep the night before either. It was a long day (Saturday), but I thought did well with the minutes that I had, and I was able to shut down guys on their team and not give up too many scoring chances, which is my job. Just trying to be as responsible as I can and make it easy on my linemates.”

Primarily used as a center between Alex Galchenyuk and Dominik Simon, Blandisi’s line mostly skated against the Maple Leafs’ third line of Jason Spezza, Ilya Mikheyev and Nic Petan.

Regardless of who he plays with or at what level he’s playing, Blandisi has a consistent approach to his craft.

“The same things I do every day wherever I am,” Blandisi said. “Just work hard. I’m a competitor, so I like to get out there and get under the skin of the other guys once the puck drops. I’ve got no friends on any other teams or anything like that. I just bring my work ethic every day to practice, to the gym, off the ice and be a good guy in the dressing room. That’s what I’m here to do.”

•••

Good habit

Even after going 1 for 1 against the Maple Leafs, the Penguins worked extensively on their power play Sunday.

Sullivan expressed optimism with how his players created rebound opportunities with shots from the perimeter Saturday.

“Hopefully, it’s not a trend,” Sullivan said. “Hopefully, it’s a habit. I just think that they’re taking what the game gives them out there. They’re worked extremely hard at it. Their attention to detail was really good, and they put the pucks on the net. Sometimes, a shot on goal breaks the coverage down better than anything, whether it be five-on-five or on the power play.

“They did a good job of getting the pucks to the net. Also, we had people in the right position to contest the rebounds. The goal we scored was an example of it. It was I think the second rebound off the initial shot. And that’s what it takes to score in this league. But I hope that becomes a habit as opposed to a trend.”