Pickering played a 'calculated' game in NHL debut

Owen Pickering said he was "so scared" taking to the PPG Paints Arena ice for warmups ahead of his NHL debut Saturday.

"I was probably more nervous for that, honestly," the Penguins' first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft said with a chuckle following the Penguins' 4-3 shootout win over the Sharks. "I was heading out there saying, 'Just don't fall on my head.' I ripped (the puck) off the glass twice, which was embarrassing."

Pickering went through the rest of warmups without the helmet, despite his mother Dana pleading with him before the game to put the helmet on after the customary solo rookie lap. 

"If you've got it, flaunt it," Bryan Rust remarked, referring to Pickering's flowing long hair on display during warmups.

While Pickering wasn't too pleased with his warmup lap, the game itself was a different story. Pickering was one of the Penguins' better defensemen in the win. 

While Kris Letang's illness opened a spot in the lineup in both Friday's and Sunday's games, the Penguins weren't exactly forced into dressing Pickering. He was the odd man out in Friday in Columbus as Ryan Shea drew back in the lineup in what ended up being a 6-2 loss. Entering Saturday's game, Mike Sullivan opted to make a change to the third pairing, sitting Ryan Graves in favor of Pickering, who was paired with Shea on the third pairing.

The Pickering-Shea pairing was the Penguins' most effective at controlling the amount of shot attempts for vs. against, and it wasn't even close. When Pickering was on the ice at five-on-five, the Penguins led 19-7 in shot attempts, 11-7 in unblocked shot attempts, and 7-6 in shots on goal. Pickering factored in on the only goal scored in either direction with the third pairing on the ice, finding Drew O'Connor to set up a shot before Jesse Puljujarvi cleaned up the rebound just 6:34 into the game:

"The puck just kind of came to me," Pickering said. "The guy bit, and OC was kind of far-side. I made a pass, he went far-pad and Jesse put it in. It was cool."

Pickering finished with 13:40 in time on the ice, including 2:25 shorthanded. In addition to his assist, he had one shot attempt that was blocked and one blocked shot himself. 

That block came short-handed in the third period when the Penguins were clinging onto a tie game. Goals from Rust, Puljujarvi and Sidney Crosby gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead into the early part of the second period, but the Sharks forced their way back into things with goals from Tyler Toffoli, Mikael Granlund and another from Toffoli. Anthony Beauvillier gave the Sharks a power play when he tripped Barclay Goodrow later in the third, and that's when Pickering dropped to block a slap shot from Macklin Celebrini to help preserve the tie:

The Penguins were able to keep things tied through regulation and the five-minute overtime period. Crosby, Beauvillier and Evgeni Malkin scored in the shootout, while Alex Nedeljkovic stopped three of five shooters faced to finish with the win. And when O'Connor handed out the MVP racing helmet postgame, Pickering was a worthy recipient for his efforts:

"I feel like I played pretty well," Pickering said. "It's nice to help the team win, which is big. I think right now, I'm kind of in a whirlwind, I don't really think I can evaluate my play, but I feel like I did some good things out there, and it was a lot of fun."

Sullivan, though, was able to evaluate Pickering's play.

"I thought Pick had a great game," Sullivan said. "I thought he played with confidence. He defended hard. He had a great block on one of the penalty kills, that was a courageous play. I thought he made a real nice play on Jesse Puljujarvi's goal, that backside seam pass to that backside flank. He didn't play a reckless game. He played a calculated game, and he played with confidence. I thought he had a great game."

One game is far too early to start penciling Pickering into any long-term plans, especially with that one game coming against one of the NHL's bottom-feeders in the Sharks. But it was an especially encouraging first step for Pickering, and a sign that he might not be too far off from seriously contending for a more permanent position. 

That infusion of youth is needed, and Pickering wasn't the only one to bring that in this game. Vasily Ponomarev, one of the forward prospects acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade, made his Penguins debut -- not quite his NHL debut, after playing two games for Carolina last season. The 22-year-old winger's showing was quieter, skating in 8:40 on the fourth line, a figure impacted by missing most of the first period to get stitches after taking a puck to the face. He finished with three shots on goal on five attempts, one takeaway, and one penalty for putting the puck over the glass. Good things happened with Ponomarev on the ice at five-on-five as well, with the Penguins having a 12-6 edge in shot attempts and a 6-2 lead in shots on goal in that time.

Like Pickering, Ponomarev is going to need to put together more than just one good game before it can be said that he's earned a full-time role. But at least for now, with the Penguins largely struggling to this point in the season, that boost of energy from younger legs can be something that helps the Penguins start to turn things around.

"Anytime you're going through a rut, you're trying to find ways to kind of get back out of it and get going again and bring some life to the table," Nedeljkovic said. "So when you've got new faces in the lineup, new voices in the room, it does something. Everybody kind of perks up a little bit or sits a little straighter. Everybody's maybe a little bit more positive."

Marcus Pettersson called it "needed" energy.

"I know Wilkes has done a terrific job as a team down there," Pettersson said. "So you can tell everybody is coming in with confidence and playing well and wants to make a difference out there. I think that's the biggest thing. You see these guys coming in. They really want to make a difference."

It goes well-beyond those two guys. Sam Poulin, still just 23, skated in his third game of the season and is looking to carve out a regular role. AHL rookies Tristan Broz and Ville Koivunen remain in Wilkes-Barre, but don't seem to be too far off from being in the conversation for a spot themselves, with Rutger McGroarty and Jonathan Gruden being two more guys who could eventually push themselves into the mix this season too. There's, of course, Joel Blomqvist, who had an eight-game stint in the NHL that was overall encouraging.

The Penguins are looking to make moves to right the ship this season, with very few players on the roster being untouchable or unmovable. If trades are to come, some of the replacements for those players might just be the ones already in-house.