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| Harrison Ruopp (#52), Brian Dumoulin (#8), Scott Wilson (#43) and Reid McNeill (#33) warm up before Sunday's game against Chicago. Photo credit: Michelle Tapp (@Adikted). |
The Pens are 2-0 through two games at this tournament, having defeated Ottawa 4-3 on Saturday and Chicago 5-4 in a shootout on Sunday. The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, split their first two games opening with a 4-2 win over Chicago before falling to Ottawa 6-2 in the second game.
Leading the Pens through two games is none other than Jean-Sebastien Dea (2G-3A). Dea tallied the game-winning goal on the power play with 18.3 seconds left in Saturday's game, also tallying two assists in the opening match of the weekend. He followed that up with another goal and assist, including a first round shootout goal as well against Chicago on Sunday. The kid has been everywhere on the ice, mixing it up with physical play and getting into high-scoring areas and finishing plays off.
It will be interesting to see who gets the start in net for the Penguins this afternoon and if the starter sees the full 60-minutes or if the team elects to split the game in half between the goalies. Matt Murray, who is turning pro in the fall, stopped 22 of 25 on Saturday. Tristan Jarry, the former Memorial Cup Champion winning goalie, is likely headed back to Edmonton (WHL) though he stopped 36 of 40 shots in the Pens' shootout win Sunday. Do you go with the guy who is further along in his development or split the time evenly amongst the two netminders. Time will tell.
It's interesting what a difference a year makes. The Penguins left London without a win last year and this year have a chance to go a perfect 3-0. Not that wins and losses at this time of year carry any real weight, but several guys (J-S Dea, Anton Zlobin and Josh Archibald to name a few) have used this tournament to make a strong first impression with the new coaching staff and management in Pittsburgh.
As promised, some more photos from this weekend's games. Special thanks to local London resident Michelle Tapp (@Adikted on Twitter) for sharing these photos.
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| Good shot of this year's captain at the Rookie Tournament - Brian Dumoulin. |
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| Matia Marcantuoni has displayed his blazing speed, face-off skills and penalty killing efforts all weekend. |
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| Clark Seymour took exception to Viktor Svedberg's hit on Anton Zlobin. |
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| The Penguins have celebrated at center ice twice in two days. Can they sweep the tournament this afternoon? |
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