Blue Jacket’ Luca Pinelli impresses in NHL Debut – Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets need bodies. Due to injuries to Kirill Marchienko and Mathieu Olivier, an emergency recall was required for Wednesday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
This season turned out to be the NHL Debut of the Captain of the Ottawa 67. He didn’t stop there when he got to the line, he started right in the high places – six plays with Sean Monahan and Cole Sillinger.
But that’s not all. Pinelli had a good first couple of shifts where he was visible with the puck and playing the body. That earned him time on the second power play unit.
And it didn’t end there, either. Pinelli saw the ice in overtime with the second change even before Adam Phylilli took the ice.
When the dust settled with 2-1 extra time for the maple leaves, Pinelli played more than 16 minutes. That was almost double the time ICE YEGOR Chinakhov had in the fourth row.
As you might expect, Pinelli will sit in the lineup for his second NHL game when the Blue Jackets take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Black Friday night at Hearounide Awnal Stadium. Marchenko and Olivier remain out as each recovers from upper body injuries.
Group Reaction
Pinelli will once again be able to take care of the top-six at least to start the game. Head Coach Dean Evason didn’t hesitate to promote him once he saw what he did early in the game.
“It’s just his competitiveness,” Evason said. “What we think is probably not going to be done, some Puck battles and Wall plays and commits. So he does what we enjoy.”
Evason went on to say that Pinelli “passed the areas of concern.” It is a great honor for the player who has done the job of proving all his doubters.
Todlilli has a lot of familiarity with the Pinelli’s as he played with Luca’s Brother Francesco in the Toronto Red Wings. Fantlilli is not surprised by what he saw in Luca.
“Good to see,” Fantlilli said. “He likes to see her come with confidence. She lives with me right now so I was just telling her about your performance tonight. She really enjoyed it. She really enjoyed it. She really enjoyed it.”
Evason previously spoke of Pinelli’s competitiveness. Fantlilli added that he thinks Pinelli is helping him become something in the games.
“He’s a hard worker,” Fantlilli said. “He likes to get in front of the net, get his nose dirty. It’s part of what got him here and I don’t expect him to change anything.”
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As for Pidelli himself, he managed his business in the same way he has all his careers up to now.
“I think it’s obviously some nerves,” Pinelli said. “But honestly, I felt like I fit into the game. So (I) just looked at a lot of things. If it’s just fun, I’m still pretty much in game mode.”
Pinelli’s ability to fit in and fit seamlessly into the blue collar lineup was a result of the work the Cleveland Cavaliers have done in making sure the programs are the same for each team.
“The coaches. They did a good job showing me all the plans and things like that,” Pinelli said. “So it was comfortable for me to change here.”
Pinelli played 16:20 in his recording recording two shots, a hit (although it felt like a lot) and a block. He made some good reads on plays and completed several good passes to set up scoring opportunities.
When the head coach lifts a player, he notices. When a player does that in their NHL Debut, it’s memorable. Pinelli’s NHL Debut was memorable for all the right reasons. He and the Blue Jackets hope to carry that momentum into Friday night’s game against the Penguins.
As for the game itself, the blue jackets do not make any changes to their lineup from Wednesday. It means the Jets have started his ninth of 11 games. The penguins will face Tristan Jarry, who is making consecutive starts of his own. That probably means the art of silovs will play on Sunday with the maple leaves.
