Call of the Wilde: Pittsburgh Penguins take 4-3 shootout win over Montreal Canadiens

It was an entertaining game and the Montreal Canadiens had good energy against the Penguins Wednesday night. In this one, Brian Wilde writes, there wasn't much to pick apart.

Two home games remain before the Montreal Canadiens’ annual Christmas trek across North America. It was Pittsburgh on Wednesday and the New York Islanders to come on Saturday, then a full seven games away from the Bell Centre.

The Penguins played at home Tuesday, beating Arizona, so they had the rougher schedule for this one. However, both teams were ready to go in a highly entertaining game that ended in a shootout that went 12 rounds with a 4-3 Pittsburgh win.

It’s not difficult to know which prospect will shine in the NHL. Generally, a player excels at a lower level, then shows the same skills over time at the next level. For example, Cole Caufield shone at the United States Development Program, breaking scoring records, then he shone at Wisconsin University, winning the Hobey Baker Award. When he started scoring for the Canadiens, no one was surprised.

Every now and then, though, something weird happens: A player exceeds expectations at the NHL level with talent that he didn’t exhibit when he played at a lower level. Jayden Struble is that player who outpaces projections.

It’s not as if Struble was bad at Northeastern University. He was fine. He went about his business. Nothing spectacular happened when he was with the Huskies. He dressed, did fine, and then he dressed again. He had only one goal in 31 games for his university team in Boston.

Struble then got the call up to Montreal after 21 workmanlike games in Laval, and, suddenly, top-level talent breaks out. The game is so much faster at the NHL level and he is having absolutely no issue at all with it. It appears to be nothing to him to face the world’s best players.

Struble has only played 12 games and he already has two goals. His first period marker was gorgeous. He took the puck from behind the net, assessed the scene, and off he went. He skated all the way to the Pittsburgh blue line, then dished it off, then continued his path toward goal. He picked up the rebound for a beautiful tally.

Earlier in the period, Struble had forechecking pressure coming at him. He showed his beautiful skating balance as he met the traffic, and assessed the situation, then calmly fed it to his defensive partner. It was not an easy moment, but he made it look easy.