Sceviour Gets Rewarded with Two-Goal Game
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"You can't necessarily control that," he said during the intermission interview of Sunday's game against the Devils. "At the same time, it kind of sucks. But you can control what you can control, and that's playing on the ice, so that's all I'm trying to focus on. Play a good game and try to help the team win."
And that's exactly what he did tonight, scoring twice in Pittsburgh's 5-2 win over New Jersey at Prudential Center. Sceviour now has three of his five goals this season in the past two games after also tallying in Friday's 6-4 win over the Devils.
"He's a guy that comes to the rink every day with a smile and works hard," Jake Guentzel said. "It's always nice to see a guy like that get rewarded. I'm really happy for him. For him to score three goals over this two-game stretch, they've been big goals for us, and we're definitely lucky to have him."
And Sceviour, in his first season with Pittsburgh after being acquired from Florida with Mike Matheson during the offseason, feels fortunate to be here - saying he was pretty sure that he was going to clear since a lot of players haven't been claimed this year because teams don't have a lot of cap space.
But Sceviour said that he really just tried not to think about it, and head coach Mike Sullivan gave the veteran forward so much credit for the way he's dealt with a stressful situation during a stressful time with the NHL trade deadline on Monday at 3 PM.
"I think Colton's playing hard," Sullivan said. "He has some offensive instincts. He's playing hard for us at both ends. He's a good penalty killer, he's a good defender and that's what he brings to our team. So I'm happy for him that he got rewarded with a couple of goals tonight."
Sceviour's first goal came on his first shift of the night just 2:35 into play, skating on a line with Teddy Blueger - returning to action after missing 13 games with an upper-body injury - and Radim Zohorna.
Sceviour actually set up Blueger for a phenomenal scoring chance of his own after a quick transition up the ice, but defenseman Ty Smith made a great sliding block to rob him of an open net. The puck ended up bouncing to Sceviour behind the net, who quickly stuffed it in before goalie Mackenzie Blackwood could get his bearings.
Sceviour struck again at the 5:26 mark when he was able to get his stick on a point shot from defenseman Mike Matheson to re-direct it past Blackwood. It was reminiscent of the night that Sceviour scored his first and only career hat trick, on Oct. 30, 2016, as a member of the Florida Panthers.
"I think I had two quick ones to start the game and about 55 minutes to get the next one," he said with a laugh.
While he wasn't able to get the third one tonight, it was still a strong overall performance from Sceviour, who also helped the Penguins kill off both penalties they took in the game.
"(A hat trick) would be awesome, that'd be exciting, but two goals is hard to get in this league," Sceviour said. "Three goals, obviously even harder, so I can't complain about two goals. I haven't got a lot of bounces offensively until recently, so I'll take two any day of the week right now."
And it was just another example of the incredible depth Pittsburgh has, which continues to get tested as Frederick Gaudreau left the game in the third period with a lower-body injury. Sullivan said he will be re-evaluated when they get back to Pittsburgh.
"You look at this roster and we're winning a lot of games right now with guys out," Sceviour said. "When we're healthy, this is a stacked team and obviously, that's exciting. You want to be a part of that in any capacity you can. So you never know what happens this time of year, but I'm focusing on get ready for the game against Philly (on Thursday) and helping the team win down the stretch."
