With time winding down and about 10 seconds left Wednesday afternoon in the championship game of the 4-on-4 tournament that closed Pittsburgh Penguins prospect camp, top-billed forward Brayden Yager of Team 3 skated in from the left side and fired a wrister toward the net.

With the score 2-1 and bragging rights on the line, defenseman Owen Pickering, the captain of Team 1 and the Penguins’ 2022 first-rounder, bravely stepped in and blocked the shot with the inside of his knee. Pickering limped away, but the buzzer sounded, and his squad celebrated an undefeated day and a tournament title at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.

No such thing as an exhibition to these guys.

“Yager took the shot, so I didn’t feel it. No, actually, it hurt a lot — he has a rip,” Pickering joked in the locker room after his team’s victory. “Hit the inside of my knee, so I’ll have a little bruise for a bit, but I’ll be fine.

“We wanted to win really bad. Even on the bench, you’re all over it — a lot of chatter, guys going at it and competing. As much as it’s July and the middle of summertime, if a guy’s in the slot with 10 seconds left, I’m gonna block that shot.”

Team 1’s roster was rooted in defense, eschewing the highly rated goal scorers to build around Pickering and 2024 second-round selection Harrison Brunicke. Team 2 featured premier forwards like Tristan Broz and Ville Koivunen, while Team 3 sported Yager and 2024 second-rounder Tanner Howe among its most notable.

But perhaps the most impressive performance of the tournament came from behind Team 1’s defense: Russian goalie Sergei Murashov.

Murashov entered camp as a bit of an unknown. Although he sported eye-popping stats in the KHL and its development league last season, not much was known about him.

Penguins goaltenders coach Andy Chiodo hovered over Murashov this week during drill work, and when the real hockey started, the goalie didn’t disappoint. Murashov posted shutouts in the tournament's first two games and only allowed one goal, scored by Yager, in the championship. Not only did he seem in command of his net and in constant communication with his defenders, but he looked quick and nimble, often darting across his crease to stop one-timers and standing tall on breakaway chances.

Needless to say, Murashov’s inclusion this week has Penguins brass excited. However, they still await a decision on whether Murashov will play his hockey next season back home in Russia or in America.

“Getting to know him was great,” Penguins director of player development Tom Kostopoulos said. “His English is really good. Spending time with him on and off the ice, everyone’s really enjoyed that. Watching him compete in drills, he’s relentless on the puck. ... Watching him in the games, it was impressive. We’re all really excited that he’s here.”

Pickering put it more succinctly: “Shoutout to Sergei, too. That guy’s disgusting.”

The Penguins’ most recent top draft picks showed themselves well during the camp. Brunicke was solid throughout the week, looking calm on the puck, quick without it and sturdy in defense. Tanner Howe proved his reputation as a hard-nosed pest, scoring two goals at the net front and finding himself the instigator of many tangles behind it.

“He’s a great player,” Pickering said of Brunicke, his defense partner on the winning team. “He’s easy to play with. He’s a really good skater, and he’s big. He’s a smart player, too. He’s good at escaping, good at getting out of things. Makes it easy to play with.”

Team 2, captained by Broz, was the first team knocked out, and he was not thrilled by that fact in the locker room afterward. That level of competitiveness, though, is exactly what the Penguins are looking for from the 21-year-old as he looks to take another step up in his development next year.

“He’s been one of our most intriguing prospects to follow the last few years,” Kostopoulos said. “He’s been through some adversity and battled it and been very resilient. ... He seems really dedicated to his training right now. It’s great to see him and how he keeps maturing and growing as a player. He’s always had the skill set, but you can see the work ethic and his attitude keep maturing.”

Yager got on the score sheet, but his team, which was captained by Chase Yoder, also fell short of the trophy.

Yager, however, looks like the prospect at this camp with the best chance of cracking the NHL roster heading into the season. If he doesn’t, he’ll have to return to Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League, per the NHL’s agreement with the Canadian Hockey League.

“He’s grown in a lot of ways this year,” Kostopoulos said. “ ... We’ll see what happens in the fall. I’d expect him to be pushing for Pittsburgh. He can bring certain elements to the game. He can skate at the NHL level right now. If he keeps building different aspects of his game, he should be in the mix.”

Other goal scorers from the four-game tournament included Will Gerrior, a non-roster invitee from the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League, who scored twice; Atley Calvert, a teammate of Yager’s with Moose Jaw; Christopher Brown and Justin Cloutier of the Soo Greyhounds; 2023 third-rounder Emil Pieniniemi; 2024 seventh-rounder Mac Swanson, who went five-hole on a breakaway; Penn State’s Matt DiMarsico; and Owen Saye, one of two players with that name at the camp.

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