DUNCANVILLE, Texas -- After his first morning skate with the Penguins, winger Chris Kunitz was putting away his sticks en route to the visiting locker room Friday at the United Center in Chicago when he accidentally sent those and several others' sticks tumbling down with a loud crash.

He looked around, but none of his new teammates saw, so he quickly and carefully cleaned up the mess and headed for his stall.

Kunitz needn't have worried. Even if the Penguins had noticed and gotten a bad first impression, he surely would have reversed it hours later.

In his Penguins debut after being acquired Thursday in a trade from Anaheim, Kunitz had a goal and an assist, led the team with four hits, tied for the team lead with three blocked shots, had a plus-minus rating of plus-2 and manned a spot as the forward in front of the net on the top power-play unit Friday in a 5-4 win against the Chicago Blackhawks.

And that was without playing the role the Penguins envisioned for him when they sent defenseman Ryan Whitney to the Ducks for Kunitz and prospect Eric Tangradi.

Kunitz, 29, is penciled in to play with center and team captain Sidney Crosby.

"Where I would like to see Chris start out is with Sid," said Penguins interim coach Dan Bylsma, who played with and coached Kunitz with the Anaheim Ducks and their Cincinnati farm club.

"He's a top-six guy, with grit and speed and a net-front presence. He's a physical guy. You can add that to any top-two lines, a guy who creates space and speed for guys down the middle."

Bylsma's vision had a setback. The problem Friday was, Crosby was sitting out his second consecutive game with a groin injury. He could return as soon as today against Dallas, and Bylsma yesterday strongly hinted that Kunitz would be on Crosby's flank when he returns.

The Penguins can only hope that works out nearly as well as Kunitz's game alongside Jordan Staal, who moved up to center the second line in Crosby's absence. Staal had a strong game against the Blackhawks. He assisted on Kunitz's goal, and vice versa.

"I've just been trying to get situated," Kunitz said. "Whoever they put me with, it will be a pleasure to play with. It would be an honor to play with a player of [Crosby's] caliber, but there are plenty of people on this team that it would be a pleasure to play with."

Kunitz found news of the trade "shocking at first" because he had become settled in Anaheim, but he had at least some background with several people in the Penguins' organization and has found the players to be welcoming.

"Just a good group of guys," Kunitz said. "Everybody seems to like each other."

Those who had met Kunitz before characterize him as a good fit for a close team.

"I remember him from when we played together in a summer event, a trip in Europe for charity for 10 days," forward Max Talbot said of a tour that had stops in London, Paris and Switzerland, among others, just before the 2004-05 NHL lockout began.

"I think anyone can fit in with our group. That's what's happened since I've been here." Winger Petr Sykora, another of Kunitz's teammates in Anaheim, echoed those sentiments but remembers Kunitz more for what he does on the ice.

"He's a guy who skates well and has a good set of hands, but he plays with a lot of grit," Sykora said. "He goes to the net. He plays the body."

Kunitz also brings a type of experience that doesn't run deep in the locker room. He is one of three players who has won a Stanley Cup, his coming with the 2006-07 Ducks.

"Being through it helps anybody, the knowledge of watching guys," Kunitz said. "For me, it was watching [Anaheim defenseman] Scott Niedermayer. He had won it a few times. You just kind of see the way he does things, how he prepares every day.

"You look around, maybe not many guys have rings. It's just something you bring. You don't really have to say anything. You might not be a big talker. Maybe just how you go about your business every day might help."

First Published: March 1, 2009, 10:00 a.m.