Alright would be an understatement. Kessel and his new stick would go on to score his first hat trick as a Penguin, and sixth overall of his career, en route to a 4-2 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena.
Kessel's natural hat trick, and his first trick since Feb. 1, 2014 against Ottawa, was a display of his dynamic shot and sheer skill - the first off of a faceoff play and the next two goals both on breakaways.
"It's been a while," Kessel said. "I felt good. There were some good passes and I was able to finish."
With the Pens trailing 1-0, Evgeni Malkin won a clean faceoff to Kessel, who slid above the dot and slipped a shot through several bodies to even the score.
Kessel's next two tallies came as a result of great passing, blazing speed and pinpoint accuracy. On his first breakaway goal - fed by Malkin - Kessel snapped a shot top shelf over the outstretched glove of goaltender Malcolm Subban. On his second breakaway goal - fed by Carl Hagelin - Kessel whipped a shot under the glove and just over the pad.
"The pucks found me and I had two good plays," said Kessel, who has an active Iron Man streak of 695 games. "I was trying to get more of an offensive play.
"(Malkin and Hagelin) made great plays. They both had their heads up and made great plays. I was on the good end of them."
No doubt Subban was cheating glove high in anticipation of a repeat. Kessel baited him, then attacked. But Kessel wasn't playing any mind games.
"I'm just going down and shooting it," Kessel said. "Nothing special."
I believe 18,610 fans would respectfully disagree with Kessel on the shots being nothing special. And that's not counting Kessel's bench boss.
"I think Phil has a knack for seeing those windows of opportunity," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "Obviously he has explosive speed so he can create that separation when he needs to. He's got another gear. You could see it tonight in those breakaways that he got."
Kessel's shot has been well documented throughout his 12-year career. The puck accelerates off of his stick almost effortlessly and from any angle. The skill has led to six 30-goal seasons, including one in Pittsburgh.
Kessel has three goals and five points in three games on the current campaign. In 2018-19, Kessel scored 34 goals and career highs with 58 assists and 92 points.
At the beginning of training camp he assessed his play from a year ago: "I had 90 points. That's pretty good, right?"
Right.
Kessel's performance tonight was also pretty good.
