After a rugged start to the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins are trending in the right direction. Pittsburgh won the second game of their mini series with the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. They followed that up by sweeping a weekend series with the Rangers. Without a training camp, most teams were destined to play rather pedestrian out of the gate. The Penguins, despite their improvements, have been no exception.

Here are some observations I have from the past week of Penguins hockey. Let’s get started, shall we?

Penguins’ resiliency is the theme of the week

The Penguins have played from behind virtually all season. They’ve held a lead for a grand total of 34 minutes in their first six games. No team is going to win many games that way.

However, the Penguins have made it quite the habit coming back to win in every single game that they’ve won so far. Without a doubt, the talent is there. When Pittsburgh falls behind, it is usually because they came out uninspired. Eventually the talent takes over and the Penguins end up winning the game.

They were badly outplayed in most of the game this year so just to push the games to overtime and get a point is huge. Prioritizing points in a shortened season is a must. With only 112 points at stake, every point matters.

The Penguins did a good job maximizing the amount of points they could gain despite playing rather poorly as of late.

R̵u̵s̵s̵ ̵T̵y̵l̵e̵r̵ Jared McCann: "You never heard of my knuckle puck?" pic.twitter.com/EqJnnVsvb7

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 25, 2021

Pierre-Olivier Joseph’s debut is a glimpse into the future

It’s been a while since a prospect of note made their debut in Pittsburgh. Sure there was the group that won the Cups a few years back but only Jake Guentzel really had true hype and notoriety around him prior to his debut. The other ones just fit in well.

Joseph was acquired from Arizona when the Penguins traded Phil Kessel. He was a former first round pick in 2017 in Arizona and made his NHL debut on Friday following a plethora of injuries on defense.

Penguins management is excited to see what Joseph can do. Considering the amount of moves they made on defense prior to the season, maybe they didn’t feel he was quite ready. Regardless, Joseph has a large role to fill and he has done a good job early on. He had his first NHL assist on Friday in his debut. Joseph does a good job of moving the puck and skates fairly effortlessly.

If Joseph earns his keep over the next few weeks, the Penguins will have decisions to make. They have a lot of cap space tied up in defensemen. Joseph is a young, cheap option and presents a potential stalwart on the blue line. A guy like Marcus Pettersson or Mike Matheson could be moved to free up some space to acquire a legit offensive option.

With the AHL season not starting until February, having Joseph sit doesn’t do much. Sure he would practice with the big club. However, a prospect needs playing time in games. Without AHL games currently to do that, Joseph should stay in and continue to gain valuable experience.

JAKE GUENTZ-GOAL!

Here's your @JagermeisterUSA Shot of the Night. pic.twitter.com/ATDidpzdpv

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 25, 2021

DeSmith saved the ship, Jarry righted his

After the opening week, the Penguins were spiraling. Tristan Jarry, the newly-minted starting goaltender, struggled out of the gate. The defensive efforts in front of him were very lackluster. But even then, goaltenders are paid to make the occasional big save and Jarry hadn’t been doing that.

Enter Casey DeSmith.

Tasked with tough assignments early in the season, DeSmith faced the Capitals in consecutive games. The team went down early in both games but eventually fought back in extra time to garner four much needed points.

Jarry ended up riding the bench for about a week. That gave him plenty of time to clear his mind and put in the practice time throughout the week. He rebounded Friday to get a 4-3 shoutout win over the Rangers. He put together a solid performance on Sunday evening making 23 saves en route to a comeback victory over the Rangers.

The Penguins need Jarry. They signed him to an extension in the offseason because they believe in him going forward as their starter. DeSmith’s big showings were an early season turning point and shouldn’t be ignored. If Jarry were to go down for a stretch, DeSmith might just be good enough to hold down the fort.

Goaltending is important in this league. The Penguins have been blessed with it for the past 15 years.

Penguins’ Three Stars of the Week

*stats are from the games this week*

1. Bryan Rust (2 goals, 1 assist): Rust scored a breakaway goal on a pass from Sidney Crosby on Sunday evening. The goal extended his point streak to five games now as he was only held scoreless in the season opener. Rust is back with a vengeance after his career best regular season was cut short last year due to COVID. Out to prove that he is legit, Rust is doing quite the job of that this season and earns first star honors this week.
2. Teddy Blueger (2 goals, 1 assist): Blueger also had himself a solid week scoring twice and netting two points on Tuesday in the win over the Capitals. The fourth line center is emerging as a nice little player for the Penguins. He certainly has a ceiling as a third line center. However, that doesn’t mean that what he provides isn’t important.
3. Jake Guentzel (1 goal, 2 assists): Guentzel’s two points performance against Washington on Tuesday helped fuel a victory for them. He was also the hero Sunday night as he scored the game winner with under two minutes to go on Sunday to seal a perfect four-game home stand. What a player.

100 NHL GOALS FOR JAKE GUENTZEL!

…And the 3-2 lead for the Pittsburgh Penguins. pic.twitter.com/phV5VXaqQd

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 25, 2021

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