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| A photo of J-S Dea at the rookie tournament last year in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. |
I remember writing this feature on Dea when he was at Penguins Development camp two years ago as a tryout invite. Now he's on an NHL contract with Pittsburgh and grabbing the spotlight in the first game of the rookie tournament with a three point (1G, 2A) performance.
The Penguins take on the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.
QUICK RECAP
The Penguins got off to a fast start in the rookie tournament, taking a 1-0 lead on the Ottawa Senators just 1:20 in. Jean-Sebastien Dea and Anton Zlobin teamed up for a goal with Zlobin finishing off a backhander on Sens goalie Andrew Hammond. Reid McNeill also added an assist on the Pens first goal of the tournament.
Shavertown Pa. native Patrick McGrath had an eventful first period, dropping the gloves on the ensuing face-off after the Pens' goal with Ottawa's Darren Kramer. McGrath also engaged a Senators defenseman in the final 30 seconds of the period before being tagged for matching roughing minors.
Ottawa didn't register their first shot until 5:35 in after Pens failed to convert on game's first power play, as Matt Murray stopped a hard Matt Puempel shot to get his first action of the afternoon.
The Penguins held an early shot edge but sloppy work on their 2nd power play of the period led to dangerous scoring chances by the Senators, the second of which they put past Murray to even the score at 1-1.
Murray stopped a shorthanded breakaway before Puempel and Sens' first round pick Curtis Lazar broke in 2-on-1 shortly thereafter. Pens defenseman Nick D'Agostino misread the play and Lazar made him pay, firing a quick hard shot past Murray to tally a shorthanded goal to even the score with 6:01 left in the first period.
The Penguins out shot the Senators 15-9 in the first period.
The Senators and Penguins were much more evenly matched in the second period. The Pens had their chances on the power play with two more in the middle frame, but were unable to score. The Senators capitalized off a Penguins defensive zone turnover to take a 2-1 lead 14:23 into the period, with Jakub Culek centering a pass to Kramer, who able to jam a puck past Murray,
Matt Puempel showed why he was a 30-goal scorer in the AHL last season, taking a pass from Buddy Robinson and lasering a puck past Murray coming down the wing to give the Senators a 3-1 lead with 2:25 left in the middle frame.
Chris Driedger came on about halfway through the period to replace Andrew Hammond (24 saves on 25 shots) in net for the Senators. It seemed from that point on that the Senators made the push and took the two goal lead heading into the final period.
The Penguins hadn't tested Driedger in the second period despite out shooting the Senators 28-19 through 40 minutes, but they got to him in the third.
Jean-Sebastien Dea brought a puck off the half-wall on the power play and his shot from the slot was deflected past Driedger by Tom Kuhnhackl 5:46 into the 3rd period to bring the Penguins within one at 3-2. Brian Dumoulin added a secondary assist on the play. Adam Payerl drew the interference penalty to get the Penguins going.
The Penguins continued to press on and tied the game after a nice individual effort from Josh Archbald midway through the third on a feed from Oskar Sundqvist. At one point in the third, the Penguins were out shooting the Senators by a count of 38-23. They went on to out shoot the Senators 15-6 in the 3rd and 43-25 for the game.
After Reid McNeill drew the Penguins another power play with 1:51 left, Dea finished it off with 18 seconds left with his first goal (and third point) of the game. Brian Dumoulin added his second assist of the game on the play, and the Penguins rallied for a three-goal third period and a 4-3 win to open the rookie tournament.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Jean-Sebastien Dea is continuing to be a difference maker on the ice. He assisted on the Pens' first goal 1:20 into the game on his first shift with linemates Anton Zlobin and Tom Kuhnhackl.
The top line of Anton Zlobin, J-S Dea and Tom Kuhnhackl was very active offensively today, namely Zlobin and Dea. Zlobin opened the scoring and Dea tallied the primary assist on each of the Pens' first two goals before tallying the game winner himself.
Kuhnhackl deflected Dea's shot in the 3rd to bring the Pens within one and the German-born forward had several other scoring chances throughout the afternoon.
Brian Dumoulin added two assists and play a lot of minutes. He made several nice plays throughout the game and the Penguins certainly hold high hopes for him.
Reid McNeill was strong today, being physical and taking the body regularly.
Alex Boak was also delivering punishing body checks today on the back end as well.
Josh Archibald's game-tying goal was a big play in the game, giving the Penguins all the momentum to continue to press on in search of the eventual game-wining goal.
Matt Murray was impressive in the first period, displaying good rebound control. He gave up three goals on 25 shots, including one each to highly-touted shooters Curtis Lazar and Matt Puempel, but was held out to dry at times. Lazar's goal came on a 2-on-1, Puempel's was a great shot from the wing and Kramer's goal that put Ottawa up 3-1 was off a defensive zone turnover.
Murray only faced six shots in the third period but made several big saves including a big right pad save when the Senators were trying to re-gain their momentum from the end of the 2nd period.
Patrick McGrath came in and was noticeable from his first shift, as he challenged Ottawa's Darren Kramer to a fight on the face-off following the Penguins' first goal early in the first period.
ROSTER NOTES
Matt Murray got the start in net this afternoon, stopping 22 of the 25 shots he faced.
Scratches: Kasperi Kapanen (upper body), Jaden Lindo (lower body), Christophe Lalancette (healthy) and Clark Seymour (healthy).
Lines
Kuhnhackl-Dea-Zlobin
Wilson-Sundqvist-Archibald
Uher-Marcantuoni-Payerl
McGrath-Sheary-Rust
McNeill-Dumoulin
Harrington-Ruopp
D'Agostino-Boak
Murray-Jarry
PP1: Zlobin-Dea-Kuhnhackl, Dumoulin-Sheary
PP2: Wilson-Sundqvist-Archibald D'Agostino-Harrington
PK1: Uher-Sundqvist, McNeill-Dumoulin
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