BUFFALO, N.Y. – It took several minutes to find their groove, but once they settled in, the Pittsburgh Penguins took a decisive 6-3 victory from the Boston Bruins to open the 2024 Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, New York.
The Penguins scored five unanswered goals to close things out, and received multi-point performances from a handful of intriguing rookies. Leading the charge was 21-year-old and 2021 second-round draft pick Tristan Broz, who buried two goals and an assist.
“The win is the most important thing,” Broz said when asked about his individual performance. “I haven’t played for anything too meaningful in a while, and not this counts in the regular-season standings, but it was good. It was fun.”
Things were choppy for the Penguins at first, but the same could be said for the Bruins. The first five minutes of the game was marred by icings, bouncing pucks and failed connections to slow things down. However, Boston found ways to get quality looks with their sixth shot leading to the game’s first goal at 7:34 of the opening frame.
The Bruins took a 2-0 lead on a bar-down snipe from John Farinacci, a name familiar to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fans after spending last season with the Providence Bruins.
After that, the game quickly turned in the Penguins’ favor.
“The first 10 minutes got a little squirrely, but I thought we did a great job in the second and third periods getting to the things we’ve been talking about,” said Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach Kirk MacDonald. “Wanting to hunt pucks, having a good F3 so we’re getting over the top. Our second and third goals of the game were a byproduct of our F3 hunting, creating turnovers so that we were able to play quick in transition.”
Precision passing on the power play led to Avery Hayes knocking in the Penguins’ first tally midway through the first period. Even though Boston re-established their two goal edge shortly thereafter on a puzzling play that saw goaltender Taylor Gauthier trucked by a crease-crashing Bruin, the Penguins prospects were unfazed. Gabe Klassen found another power-play goal for Pittsburgh, making it 3-2 before the first intermission.
The second period was all Penguins, and featured an early strike from Broz and a pair of late goals from Mathieu De St. Phalle and Rutger McGroarty. That dominance continued into the third period, where Broz potted his second goal and third point of the game.
“I thought [Broz] was great,” MacDonald said. “He was around the puck, made some really good plays off the rush, competed hard. I thought the whole line was good. They attacked with a lot of pace and speed. He and (Ville) Koivunen played well together.”
Once down 6-1 on the shot counter, the Penguins surrendered a mere 11 shots in the 52 minutes that followed Boston’s first goal. Final shots ended up being 37-17 in favor of Pittsburgh.
In addition to Broz’s three points, Hayes, McGroarty and Klassen had a goal and an assist each.
FINER DETAILS:
• The Penguins made a planned goalie switch at 11:22 of the second period. Gauthier left the game have denied seven of the 10 shots he faced. Sergei Murashov took his place and turned away all seven bids thrown his way.
• After the game, Broz started his media availability by mentioning that he bit his tongue on his first shift of the day. Tough start to the Prospects Challenge, but he could still relish the taste of victory that followed.
• Broz also gave a shoutout to new Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head equipment manager Matthew Mitchell for his part in Broz’s second goal. Broz’s stick had broken in two, leading him to charge back to the bench for new lumber. Mitchell was quick on the draw, got a new stick in Broz’s hands, and seconds later, the puck was in the back of the net.
That’s one game for Mitchell on the Penguins’ staff and one assist to his name already. Time will tell if he can keep up that pace.
• There were several feisty, post-whistle scrums throughout the opening bout of this year’s Prospects Challenge, but no one drew the ire of the Bruins more than Beau Jelsma. The undrafted 20-year-old was at the center of several battles, and seemed to constantly draw extra abuse from his opponents when he was in there. Jelsma rose his feet with a smile on his face every time.
• This was the first game for McGroarty in a Penguins uniform, and there were many people on hand interested to see how the recent trade acquisition would look. Right from the start, he played to his scouting report, rattling the boards with a pair of solid hits on the forecheck on his first short.
With some solid all-around play and two points to go with his effort, early returns on McGroarty were strong. But instead of tooting his own horn, the 2022 first rounder expressed his enthusiasm for being able to step into a competitive setting for the first time in months.
“It’s just great to be out there again,” he said. “The last couple weeks were a little hectic, so I was happy to get out there and do what I love.”
Amen, Mr. McGroarty. There were a lot of teammates, coaches, scouts and media members in attendance who feel the same way.
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