Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese seeks more offense

Zach Aston-Reese was in a familiar spot Monday.

Boston.

He was at TD Garden watching the famed Beanpot tournament between the men’s hockey teams of Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern, Aston-Reese’s alma mater.

The Penguins forward went to a semifinal contest between Northeastern and Boston College with Brian Dumoulin, a Boston College alumnus.

“It was awesome,” Aston-Reese said to media in Boston on Tuesday. “I got to watch the first period of the game here. I came with (Dumoulin). We were sitting in (Boston College) territory, but it was definitely enjoyable.”

The final score — a 3-1 victory for Northeastern — was, no doubt, even more satisfying for Aston-Reese.

In contrast, Aston-Reese has been anything but satisfied with his offensive production, or lack thereof, this season.

Limited to 39 games in part because of a pair of separate stints in the NHL’s protocols for covid-19, Aston-Reese has generated only one goal and seven assists.

“It’s something that I’ve been reflecting on, just personally,” Aston-Reese said. “I kind of miss out on some offensive opportunities because I think too (much) defensively. It’s something that I’ve just got to work on without giving up defensively.”

While creating goals has been a struggle for Aston-Reese, preventing them has not.

Plenty of advanced metrics reflect well on Aston-Reese in this regard, even if he is largely oblivious to how they are tabulated.

“I know that they work in my favor defensively,” Aston-Reese said. “But I don’t really understand what they mean, to be honest.”

His coach seems to have a pretty firm grasp of what Aston-Reese means to the team, even with limited offense.

“Zach is well aware of what his role is on this team,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s played a similar role in his whole time here. Every single season up until now, he’s produced for us fairly consistently. He’s always been on a 12- to 15-goal pace with zero power-play time. That’s what he’s capable of.

“He’s a guy that can create offense through his defense. He can create offense by going to the net, getting deflection opportunities, rebound opportunities. He can create momentum for our team off of a forecheck and using his physicality. Those are all aspects of his game, I think, that will help him create the offense that he has year in and year out for us.”

With dependable defensive center Teddy Blueger sidelined because of a broken jaw, Aston-Reese has been skating on a line with Brian Boyle at center and Dominik Simon at right wing in recent games.

That trio poses no threat to any marks in the franchise’s record books.

“His line, in particular, hasn’t had as much offensive zone time,” Sullivan said. “That’s an important aspect of the identity of his line is just from a momentum standpoint, establishing a forecheck, wearing out opponents by hanging onto pucks in the offensive zone and making it hard on their net-front. If that line could find a way to have more sustained offensive zone time, I think it’s going to give Zach more of an opportunity to do what he does best.”

Defense largely has been what Aston-Reese has been best at this season. At the same time, he acknowledges he should be better on offense.

“I think I need to shoot the puck more,” Aston-Reese said. “Get back to that scoring area, plant myself around the net, create opportunities for myself that way offensively.”

Notes: Sullivan suggested forward Evgeni Malkin tested out of the NHL’s protocols for covid-19 and would be eligible to return to the team’s lineup for Sunday’s road game against the New Jersey Devils. … The Penguins assigned defensive prospect Niclas Almari to Lukko of Finland’s Liiga.

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