Pellegrino is such an intriguing player to watch due to the fact that he possesses that game-breaking quality of being able to generate dangerous scoring chances at a high rate without needing the puck on his stick for an extended period of time. His composure and ability to process the game at such a high level allow him to be an incredibly effective playmaker in all situations, making skilled plays with the puck along the perimeter of the offensive zone and connecting on passing plays so fluidly that it leaves very little time for the defense to process and react to what he’s about to do next. Because he’s not a player that demands the puck, there were times where I found myself a bit underwhelmed with his offensive impact knowing his skillset, but it seemed like he was often able to grab my attention right back with a series of high-end plays whether that was sending a teammate behind the defense with a stretch pass up the ice, slipping an unsuspecting pass through traffic onto his teammate’s tape or settling down sequences in his own half of the ice with a short regroup before spearheading a rush attempt up the ice.

While Pellegrino may not overwhelm you with physical tools, his high-end processing and passing ability really set him apart from a majority of Team Red’s forwards, including production wise where he finished with 5 points in 4 games. I really enjoyed the little details of his game, most notably the intelligent routes he took off-puck to win races to loose pucks and also to angle out defenders on the forecheck. This allowed him to generate plenty of puck touches for himself which he was then able to quickly turn into attacking opportunities for his team. His scanning habits prior to his touches allowed him to anticipate his passing options and execute difficult passes through traffic right onto the tape of a teammate who didn’t need to break stride to receive it. He did a good job of utilizing give and go’s in the offensive zone to create space for himself and get looks from the middle of the ice by getting quick shots off. His ability to read the play came in handy off-puck as well as he was able to anticipate plenty of opponents plays in transition, get a stick in a lane and kickstart the counterattack with a quick play up ice.

I came away from this game very impressed with Pellegrino’s combination of high hockey IQ and playmaking ability that allowed him to turn quick puck touches into attacking opportunities for his team. He started off strong, picking up an assist on the first goal of the game after receiving a cross-ice pass in the high slot and quickly spotting Sung with a pass to the backdoor and continued to find teammates slipping into the middle of the ice with well placed passes including one to a cutting Pelosi near the right circle that was then fired off the post. I thought he did a great job at attacking the front of the net, not just with his passing ability but also with his stick work by working his way into open space and keeping pucks out of reach of his opponents. He managed to pick up his second point of the net on his team’s fifth goal with an impressive redirect in the slot off a powerful point shot by Scott in the latter half of the second period.