Big, skilled Anthony Angello has become Penguins lineup fixture

Mar. 31—Join the conversation

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The extent of Anthony Angello's NHL experience was all of eight career games before making his season debut Feb. 27. In the less than five weeks since, Angello has become a regular in the lineup for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Angello has appeared in each of the Penguins' past 13 games and 17 of their past 18. While it'd be a stretch to apply too much causation to the correlation that the Penguins are 10-2-1 in the 13 consecutive games Angello has played, it also is fair to say he has aided in that cause.

"Anthony's brought a solid game for us," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said over video conference call Wednesday.

"He's a momentum guy for us. He brings us energy. He can help us on the forecheck. He can establish an offensive zone presence with his physical play, and that's when he's at his best. I think he's done a pretty good job for us."

Angello had the first goal, a power-play tally, of Monday's 2-1 win against the New York Islanders. That gave him two points over his past three games and two goals over his past 11. But as a bottom-six wing, Angello brings more than offense.

"Just to play a simple 200-foot game," the 25-year-old former Cornell player said Wednesday. "I have to have really good attention to detail, I've got to play physical, (and) physical means having good hits, having good wall play, winning puck battles, going to the net, playing in the dirty areas of the ice and playing a tenacious, aggressive style of hockey. I've got to play fast, and once I bring all those pieces together, I think I can be really effective."

Averaging a little more than 8 minutes of ice time, Angello has been effective as measured by not being on the ice for an opponent's 5-on-5 goal this season. Angello is the only Penguins player who's played more than four games this season who can say that.

According to naturalstattrick.com, Angello also has some of the best shot-production metrics on the team since his season debut. The Penguins have 57.7% of the shots on goal with Angello on the ice at 5-on-5 this season, the best of any player who's played at least three games for them.

The Penguins also have generated 52.8% of the shot attempts with Angello on the ice at 5-on-5. They've been better in that area only with Jared McCann among those who have played at least eight games since Angello made his season debut. McCann is also the only player since then with whom the Penguins have a better ratio of 5-on-5 scoring chances while on the ice than Angello (60.3%).

One other statistic the big-bodied Angello leads the Penguins in since his first game Feb. 27: hits. Angello has 48, by far outpacing No. 2 on the team in that category, Brandon Tanev with 35.

"I think he knows exactly what he needs to do in order to help us win games," Sullivan said. "He skates well, he has good size, he brings a physical dimension to our team. He can play on that second power play at that net-front. He's pretty good at that net front, a big body that makes it hard on goaltenders to find the sight line. He has talented enough stick skills that he can make plays around the net."

A fifth-round pick in former general manager Jim Rutherford's first draft with the Penguins in 2014, Angello played three seasons for Cornell and two in the AHL before making his NHL debut last January.

The coronavirus NHL pause stunted his stint at the highest level, but when injuries forced the Penguins' hand in late February, Angello this time made his case to stick in the NHL.

"This opportunity's meant lot to me," he said. "I worked really hard to get here, and obviously it takes a lot more hard work to stay here. I think I'm trying to prove a point, trying to prove that I belong, trying to prove that I can have a positive impact on this team and be a beneficial player for the Pittsburgh Penguins."

Keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.

Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at cadamski@triblive.com or via Twitter .