Penguins' bottom-6 forwards offer early season scoring

During the Pittsburgh Penguins’ preseason finale, a 7-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena on Oct. 4, all but one of the hosts’ goals came from what could be considered their bottom-six forwards.

Noel Acciari (twice), Lars Eller (twice), rookie Rutger McGroarty and Jesse Puljujarvi were part of that group. Second-line right winger Rickard Rakell was the black sheep of the night as he found the net via the power play.

After the game, Acciari preached the obvious importance of secondary scoring.

“It takes a lot of pressure off the top guys,” Acciari said. “It makes the game easier for them. We can’t rely on them every night. … That helps them a lot. They’ll win us games, and there are games we need to do it.”

Through four games of the regular season, the Penguins’ bottom-six forwards have done it a handful of times, scoring four of the team’s 14 goals overall.

The first came during a 6-3 road win against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

Winning a puck battle in Detroit’s right corner against Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvidsson, Penguins forward Cody Glass slipped a small-area backhand pass to the right dot for linemate Kevin Hayes, who lifted a wrister over goaltender Cam Talbot’s glove on the near side.

Then on Monday, the Penguins’ bottom-six forwards accounted for half of the team’s offense in a 6-3 comeback road win against the Montreal Canadiens.

Eller opened the scoring 6:54 into regulation.

Off an elevated pass by Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson, Puljujarvi pushed the puck into the offensive zone on the left wing and pulled up on the half-wall, drawing in Canadiens rookie defenseman Lane Hutson. Taking advantage of the ice vacated by Hutson, Eller surged to the top of the left circle, accepted a pass from Puljujarvi and stroked a wrister to the far side by the glove of goaltender Sam Montembeault.

Eller scored again off a strong effort to tie the score in the second period, 3-3.

Collecting a loose puck in his own right circle, Eller reversed course and turned up ice. Largely ignoring a check attempt by former Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson, Eller hustled through the neutral zone, gained the Montreal zone on the right wing and went wide against Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky in the left circle. Gaining a step on Slafkovsky, Eller snapped a wrister to the far side above Montembeault’s glove.

Hayes scored what proved to be the game-winner in the third period Monday.

Off the right half-wall of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson pumped a wrister that struck Acciari, positioned to the right of the cage. The puck rebounded to the other side of the crease, where Hayes was able to bury it with a forehand shot by Montembeault’s right skate.

“(The top-six forwards are) our best guys for a reason,” Acciari said after the preseason finale. “We want to help them in any way possible. If it’s getting on the scoreboard and taking that pressure off them, we want to do that as the bottom-six (forwards). It’s just implied. Everyone wants to score goals. We have to keep pucks out. At the same time, we want to chip in on the offense, too.”

Note: The Penguins canceled a scheduled practice Tuesday.