The Penguins limped into their home game against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday missing another vital component to their lineup.
Forward Kasperi Kapanen was lost for a handful of weeks because of an undisclosed injury.
With a handful of other top-nine forwards already absent due to their own maladies, the Penguins needed someone to step up big.
As it turned out, they had someone big step up.
Rookie forward Radim Zohorna, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound titan playing his first season in North America, took the ice in an NHL contest for the first time in his career and played a key role in the Penguins’ 4-0 victory against the woeful Buffalo Sabres — losers of an astounding 16 consecutive games (0-14-2) — at PPG Paints Arena.
Scoring the game-winning goal on his first career shot, Zohorna was short on vocabulary in describing the moment. But the emotions he offered during and after the game provided were a visual thesaurus.
“I don’t have words,” the 24-year-old said via video conference. “It’s why I play hockey. It’s what I want to be. … I have no words.”
His teammates were a bit more effusive in explaining what Zohorna’s night was like.
“You love seeing that,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “You know it’s his first game. You think back to those emotions and those feeling that you have in your own first game. … To see him score in his first game and to see that emotion, that’s a huge boost and gets us going. But it’s also a great feeling on the bench when you see that.”
Zohorna’s goal came at 17:21 into regulation. Skating on a makeshift fourth line that included Anthony Angello and Frederick Gaudreau, Zohorna positioned himself in the left circle of the Sabres’ zone, took a backhanded pass off the end boards from Angello and ripped a quick wrister past the glove hand of goaltender Dustin Tokarski on the far side.
“That was huge,” said Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith, who made 36 saves to record his second shutout of the season. “There wasn’t a better person to score that goal for us. That was the hardest I’ve seen the bench celebrate after a goal this season I think. Even I was back there raising my hands up. I got so excited. It was really nice to see.”
The Penguins seemed pretty happy to witness some of their incumbent teammates score some goals too.
That included forward Jared McCann who cashed in on two power-play opportunities for his sixth and seventh goals of the season. Stepping in on the top unit, he replaced Kapanen — himself a replacement for injured star forward Evgeni Malkin — and fired two wristers for scores.
The first came 1:27 into the second period from the high slot of the offensive zone. The second was recorded at 8:56 of the third and was launched just over the left circle.
“Jared can score goals,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’ve said that for a while now. He can score goals. He can really shoot the puck. He’s got a really deceptive release and he shoots it hard. At this particular time with the injuries that we have, we’re relying on him to help us offensively. That’s something that we think is a strength of his. He’s really good on the power play coming off that wall on his strong side. He’s got a knack for catching that puck in motion and getting his weight behind the puck. He can really shoot the puck. He’s a goal-scorer.
“When he scores, his confidence elevates and it helps him moving forward. You could see the burst of energy after he got his first one.”
A would-be goal by Sabres forward Victor Olofsson at 14:03 of the third period was wiped out after the Penguins issued a successful coach’s challenge claiming the scoring sequence as being offside.
An empty-net goal by forward Jake Guentzel — his 14th — capped the scoring at 18:54 of the third and secured victory on a particularly profound day for one of their teammates.
“So great, it was so great,” Sullivan said. “It was a terrific goal first and foremost. It shows how good his hands are and his skillset. I thought he had a real good game. To see the emotion on his face — not just him, our whole team — it’s just really a cool moment. Any time a player gets their first NHL goal, I think everybody on the bench can relate to what that moment means. Players never forget that first goal. I think it meant a lot to everybody. You could see it. Just the raw emotion on the bench as well. Everybody was so happy for him.”
“I was really happy,” Zohorna said. “That’s why I play hockey.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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