Article:My Name is Luca, and I Can Score.

Luca Caputi made his NHL debut last evening as the Pittsburgh Penguins faced the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. While injuries have forced the Flightless Ones to make numerous call ups from the Baby Pens this season, perhaps none of those call ups carried as much anticipation for the fans as the call up of Caputi. Luca's call up was made as an emergency move as Penguins winger Tyler Kennedy was off on suspension for the Canadiens game.

The young Caputi has been heralded by the fans as the next great power forward for the team. Comparisons to former Penguin winger Kevin Stevens have been made. Stevens was hugely successful playing alongside Mario Lemieux and many believe Caputi can fill that role of the strong winger willing to pay the price to score whilst playing with Sidney Crosby.

So what has Caputi done to garner such anticipation with the Penguins fans? Obviously his size is one of the major reasons people see him as a power forward in the NHL. But looking at his body of work he has put some good numbers out there for everyone to take notice. His last season in juniors he scored 51 goals and 111 points. Soon after leaving juniors he joined the Baby Pens and made a nice impression in the AHL playoffs scoring 8 goals in 10 games. I listened to a recent interview on the radio with the local reporter who covers the Baby Pens and his main point was that Luca is strong in the corners and is not afraid to get the puck to the front of the net. It sounds like Luca can score the dirty goals to me, something the Penguins desparately need as they push for a playoff spot.

As with almost every call up this season Head Coach Michel Therrien was reportedly going to put the dear Luca on the fourth line. I can understand Therrien's logic in his method of utilizing the players called up. The call ups must make an impression and it starts from the fourth line. Most call ups have played alright but not made the impression that warranted a significant stay with the big club. So Caputi started the game on a line with Bill Thomas and Eric Godard. It wasn't long into his first shift that Luca was involved in a scrum in front of the Montreal net. When all of a sudden while on his knees he used his long reach to sweep the puck past Canadiens goaltender Carey Price. Definetly not a pretty goal but a masterpiece in my book.

During the first intermission the local FSN station did a quick interview with Caputi. What a night for him it was disclosed that his father was in attendance and the reported asked him if he knew who was the last Penguin to scored a goal on his shot on his first shift in the NHL. The answer, Mario Lemieux. Caputi's reaction to that bit information was a great quote, "Wow."

The Penguins ultimately lost the game and are struggling to find goals. Perhaps the addition of Caputi is a taste of future success for the team. One thing is certain this will not be the last the NHL has heard of Luca Caputi.