In his sweat-soaked gear, Zach Trotman confidently walked into the Penguins dressing room Thursday morning and plopped his equipment into his locker stall. By my very unofficial estimation, he was the third defenseman to enter the room following the skate.
While that doesn't guarantee anything, it's a pretty fair indication that Trotman will indeed be back in the lineup for tonight's pivotal showdown against the Blue Jackets. That will make it five straight games that the 28-year-old will play in since being recalled from Wilkes-Barre on Feb. 25.
The Penguins have several milestones in reach tonight, including Phil Kessel tying Ron Shock for the second-longest consecutive games played streak in team history and Evgeni Malkin being four points from 1,000 in his career, but don't underestimate Trotman's own little streak. This is the longest that he's been up in the NHL since appearing in 38 games with the Bruins in the 2015-16 season. That's an eternity for an NHL player.
"I'm feeling good right now, feeling confident in my game," Trotman was telling me. "Obviously, it's a challenge as a call-up, or anytime you're playing, you never want to get too high or too low. You try and take the good with the bad, and keep yourself on an even keel."
When he was recalled due to injury, the Penguins were without Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, Olli Maatta and Chad Ruhwedel, it was almost assumed that Trotman might get in a game or two and that would be it. Instead, Trotman has stuck around. In his four games, Trotman has six hits to go along with nine blocks and a 48.2 Corsi For percentage. More importantly, as the Penguins are fighting for their playoff lives, they've gone 3-0-1 and limited opponents to 31.0 shots per game with him in the lineup.
Mike Sullivan was saying that Trotman, the final pick in the 2010 draft, has proven he can play in the league and the coach certainly hasn't been shy about using him. Trotman's averaging 15:09 per game but, tellingly, he's used Trotman some on the second power-play unit and was even paired with Dumoulin in Tuesday night's game against the Panthers. Barring something unforeseen, Trotman and Dumoulin will be together again tonight.
"Thought we had a pretty good first game for not having any reps together," Trotman said of playing with Dumoulin. "He's a great player, sees the ice really well, communicates well on the ice. I thought that was a pretty easy transition."
For most of this season the Penguins' defense corps went with just one right-handed shot — Letang’s. Now, with Justin Schultz back, the acquisition of Erik Gudbranson and the promotion of Trotman, Sullivan can still use a left-right pairing throughout, if he chooses.
When I asked Sullivan about whether keeping a left-right combination was more of a luxury or necessity, he said it's a luxury. However, keep in mind, that the Penguins still have Juuso Riikola, who will likely be a healthy scratch again tonight. Riikola, a left-handed shot who can play either side, as Europeans typically do, has been viewed as a potential top-four defenseman of the future. He has five points (two goals, three assists) in 37 games this season.
"The way the game is being played today with all the pressure on the puck, if you have the ability to have defensemen on their strong side or on their forehand a whole lot more, I think by the nature of that, they can make more effective, efficient plays," Sullivan explained. "It doesn't put them in as difficult a position."
***premium***
THE ESSENTIALS
THE SESSION
• As expected, Matt Murray will make his sixth straight start. Until the Penguins clinch a playoff berth, you can expect Murray to start nearly every game but it will be interesting to see if Casey DeSmith, who hasn't played since Feb. 21, will get one of the two starts this weekend against the Blue Jackets or Bruins. Murray is 7-0-1 with a 2.90 GAA and .905 save percentage against the Blue Jackets. That includes his 21-save performance in last week's 5-2 win at Nationwide Arena.
• Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel have dominated the stat sheet of late. Crosby has 12 points in the last five games and Guentzel has four goals and two assists in the last two games. That said, Sullivan isn't concerned about his other three lines not producing.
"There's been a significant amount of chances that have been generated from the other lines," he said, pointing, in particular, to the second line with Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel. Those two combined for seven shots on goal in Tuesday's win over the Panthers.
• While everyone in Pittsburgh is eager to see what Gudbranson might do in his first taste of the Penguins' heated rivalry with the Blue Jackets, Zach Aston-Reese is interested to hear what he might say. Apparently, Gudbranson can back-up his talk too.
"Montreal was getting a little nasty, and the last couple games he's throwing out some good chirps that I'd never heard before," Aston-Reese said. "He gets the whole bench laughing."
Example: He called the Canadiens' Max Domi a "bobblehead." Aston-Reese says he watched the "Mic'd Up" version of the Stadium Series game against the Flyers and said such trash-talking is pretty commonplace in division games.
• After a full practice Wednesday, the Penguins held an optional skate. Those not taking the ice included Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Schultz and Dumoulin.
THE OTHER SIDE
• Playoffs included, Sullivan is 14-2-1 against John Tortorella with the Penguins.
• In addition to his choice of goalie, the always colorful Tortorella said that he had two simple messages for his team: Win battles and have fun. Since going all-in at the trade deadline with the acquisition of Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, Adam McQuaid and Kinkaid, the Blue Jackets are 2-3 — both wins coming beyond regulation. He believes his team has been too uptight.
"I'm giving them two very simple points and then I'd like to open the gate like a bunch of horses," Tortorella said. "Let them out and go play. We're not going to over-coach it, go play. Maybe a little shinny hockey, like we're on a pond. I think we need to release ourselves from just beating ourselves down with just feeling the pressure of that."
• Columbus' other lineup changes have McQuaid stepping in for Dean Kukan on defense and Riley Nash is in for Markus Hannikainen. It was McQuaid's hit last week that took Bryan Rust out of the lineup.
• The Blue Jackets do not typically hold game-day practices but after spending an off-day taking in the sights of Pittsburgh on Wednesday, they took the ice this morning for a full skate.
THE INJURIES
• Kris Letang, defenseman, will miss his fifth game with an upper body injury. He did not skate Thursday due to illness, according to Sullivan.
• Olli Maatta, defenseman, has a separated left shoulder sustained Feb. 11 and is expected to miss a month. He’s on IR.
• Bryan Rust, forward, will miss his fourth game with a lower body injury.
• Chad Ruhwedel, defenseman, will miss his fourth game with an upper body injury. He is also status quo.
THE COMBINATIONS
• Here's a guess at the lines/pairings based off Tuesday's game (they didn't show any in practice Wednesday):
McCann—Crosby—Guentzel
ZAR—Malkin—Kessel
Simon—Bjugstad—Hornqvist
Blueger—Cullen—Wilson
Johnson—Schultz
Dumoulin—Trotman
Pettersson—Gudbranson
• And for Tortorella's Blue Jackets:
Panarin—Dubois—Atkinson
Dzingel—Duchene—Bjorkstrand
Foligno—Jenner—Anderson
Nash—Wennberg—Dubinsky
Werenski—Jones
Nuutivaara—Savard
Harrington—McQuaid
THE SCHEDULE
Faceoff tonight is 7:08 at PPG Paints Arena. The Penguins' practice plans for Friday are still to be determined.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our Penguins team page for everything.
