Penguins snap slide after injuries to D-men serve as 'rallying cry'

WASHINGTON -- There was a moment in the third period of Wednesday's 4-1 over the Capitals in which the Penguins were down to just three defenseman.

P.O Joseph was the first casualty in this game, leaving with an undisclosed lower-body injury in the second period. Jan Rutta followed shortly after with an upper-body injury, seemingly the result of a hit from Alex Ovechkin.

The Penguins were a few minutes into the third period when Jeff Petry laid a hip check on one of the Capitals, and crumpled to the ice immediately after holding his left knee and writhing in pain. He went right to the locker room, wincing the entire way. 

That left just Kris Letang, Marcus Pettersson and Brian Dumoulin as the remaining defenseman. The Penguins' move?

"We were trying to figure out which forward could skate backwards," Mike Sullivan said.

Jeff Carter got the call and took one shift as a defenseman. How did he get picked? Was there an election?

"I'm not sure he can skate backwards," Sullivan said of Carter. "But he's a pretty smart player and and we figured he could use his wealth of experience in the league to help him."

Thankfully, Petry returned from the locker room shortly after and was able to finish the game. But with Joseph and Rutta done for the night, the Penguins were effectively down one entire pairing for much of the game.

The Penguins used that as added motivation and held onto the lead they built in the second period to snap their seven-game losing streak and get back into the win column for the first time since Oct. 22.

The Penguins were up 1-0 when Joseph went down midway through the middle frame. Jason Zucker had opened the scoring just before, taking a shot from along the goal line that Darcy Kuemper initially stopped, then let trickle through his legs:

Rutta got called for cross-checking in retaliation and sat for two minutes, but didn't return to the game afterward. While he was in the box the Penguins doubled their lead when Brock McGinn scored shorthanded with another shot that just trickled through the pads of Kuemper:

With both Joseph and Rutta in the locker room, Petry ripped a shot from the point that beat Kuemper glove-side, in part from a great screen by Bryan Rust:

I asked Pettersson afterward if he thought that going down two defenseman as early as they did could serve as a rallying point.

"Yeah, I think so," he said. "I think everybody understands the situation. We've got to get off a little bit quicker, maybe even shorter shifts, forwards have got to help, I think they did a terrific job getting pucks deep for us so we could could change."

Still, losing three defenseman might have been a little too much to handle.

"I was worried there for a second," Pettersson said of the time Petry left the game. "But luckily he came back and Carter stepped up big time for us."

Pettersson finished with 23:48 of ice time, and Petry finished with 24:49. Dumoulin had 21:48, while Letang led the way with 28:48.

Sullivan said that he thought the remaining four defensemen "did a terrific job" in managing the rest of the game.

"That's not an easy task," Sullivan said. "I thought they did a tremendous job just keeping the game simple, managing the game appropriately. And I thought our forwards did a pretty good job helping."

Sullivan called this win a "complete effort," and that's not even taking into account players also needing to go above and beyond their usual roles and responsibilities in some way due to the short bench. 

"I thought we started to get a little bit of swagger back on the bench," Sullivan said. "Sometimes when you go through those things like we did in the third period when you're down to four defenseman, it's a little bit of a rallying cry for the guys and you could feel that on the bench in the third period."

It was a hard-earned, well-deserved win, snapping a disappointing run that lasted two and a half weeks. The Penguins are feeling good about this win and the way in which they won it, but they know that there's still work to be done if they want to keep the wins coming.

"No one has higher expectations of this team than ourselves and our players," Sullivan said. "I know this has been weighing on all of us to try to find ways to get favorable results. We made some progress tonight. We'll feel good about this one. But we've got to turn the page tomorrow and get ready for the one ahead of us."

MORE FROM THE GAME

• The Penguins' fourth goal was an empty net tally from Jake Guentzel, because snapping the win streak wasn't enough: People need Jake's Shakes, too.

• Filip Hallander left in the third period after Conor Sheary hit him up high, though he briefly returned at the end of the game:

• Hallander did have a great game for just his second one on the NHL, most notably with a huge blocked shot in the first period that hit him in the upper arm. Nearly the entire Penguins bench leapt to their feet to applaud him.

"I thought Filip Hallander had a really strong game, especially in that regard on the penalty kill," Sullivan said after.

• Hypothetically, if both Rutta and Joseph are sidelined Friday in Toronto, the Penguins have a couple of options: Chad Ruhwedel can get back into the lineup and give them five defensemen. One of the waivers-exempt players (Hallander or Sam Poulin) can be sent down and Ty Smith or Mark Friedman can come up. If Teddy Blueger is ready to come off of long-term injured reserve, then both Poulin and Hallander have to go down to create the cap room and no defensemen can come up, leaving them with five. 

• Just a hunch, but I get the feeling that Tristan Jarry is dealing with some sort of minor injury. It's highly, highly unusual for a goaltender who is backing up that night to skip the optional morning skate. Jarry will skip an occasional morning skate, but only ever when he's the starter. He was outside the locker room during the morning skate working with an athletic trainer, and was doing the same after the game. The Penguins, of course, didn't have the cap space to recall a third goaltender without sending down a forward. It seems possible that Jarry is working through something minor that wouldn't prohibit him from playing had he been absolutely needed, but keeps him from being at his best and made DeSmith the better option. Sullivan didn't say one way or the other whether that was the case when he was asked about the decision both in the morning and after the game, but Sullivan isn't exactly known for being overly transparent with injuries.

• Regardless of the reason for DeSmith getting the start, it was the right call, because he had a strong showing for his first win of the season. He made 24 saves on 25 shots, and the lone goal he let up he really just had no chance on. Sonny Milano set up Marcus Johansson from behind the net, and Johansson got a shot off so quickly from in close that it would have been an extremely difficult save for a goaltender to make, there was virtually no time to react:

DeSmith sounded confident as ever after the game. The Penguins had a sloppy first five or so minutes in this game, and he was asked how the team was able to settle things down.

"Yeah, that's my job," he said. "So just trying to do my job, then obviously the guys got their legs under them and we carried the play for a lot of the game there and I can't give everyone enough credit."

DeSmith got credit from his teammates too, earning the postgame MVP helmet:

• I wrote in my morning skate story about how this game would serve as a real benchmark for the once-struggling penalty kill unit that seemed to take real steps forward Saturday against the Kraken. The Penguins went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. They outshot the Capitals 4-2 while short-handed, and outscored them 1-0 with McGinn's goal.

Players spoke that morning about how Ovechkin, who has five power play goals on the season, would obviously be a huge threat. He was limited to one shot attempt on the man advantage in this game, and it didn't even make it to the net. 

"Guys did a great job," Carter said of the team's work while shorthanded. "Casey made the saves when he had to, D cleared pucks, and our forwards did a really good job of getting up ice and not letting them get into their setup, their breakout and whatnot. If we want to win games we have to be a big part of it as a PK group."

• This was the first game with new defense pairings for the Penguins, even though they were together for just half of a game. Pettersson skated on the top pairing with Kris Letang, and they were a pretty effective pair. They were used against the Capitals' top line and were outshot 4-9 when they were out there at 5-on-5 with no goal scored for either side, which is pretty good considering the opposition.

"I thought they got better as the game went on," Sullivan said. "I thought Marcus had a really strong game. I thought Tanger, as the game went on, he settled in. They made some really good outlet passes under pressure to beat their forecheck I think one of Washington's strengths is their forecheck, and they challenged it with pressure and physical play to beat their forecheck. I thought Tanger made some really nice plays to bypass that pressure. Marcus had a really strong game as well. We liked the pair."

• Josh Archibald led with seven hits in this game. Petry was right behind with six.

• Rust got into his first-ever fight as a professional hockey player in the third period against Trevor van Riemsdyk. It happened behind the Capitals' net, and play continued up into the Penguins' end as the fight started. The timing of the fight very well may have prevented a goal, because the whistle was blown just as the Capitals were about to get off a prime scoring opportunity off of a rush. Rust got the win, wrestling van Riemsdyk down to the ice:

• Kasperi Kapanen was a healthy scratch for the first time this season,.

• Ovechkin was asked before the game (by Crosby, indirectly) who he'd want as a third linemate if he and Crosby were on a line together. Interesting response:

• As is tradition, Penguins fans stormed the steps of the National Portrait Gallery across the street following the win. That's something that's been going on here for years when the Penguins win:

• Obligatory press box snack update: I give the Capitals a solid B. Popcorn, gummy worms, Sour Patch Kids, Peanut M&Ms, and a decent selection of chips, pretzels and caramel rice cakes. 

GETTY

Alex Ovechkin Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at Capital One Arena

1. Brock McGinn, Penguins LW
2 Casey DeSmith, Penguins G
3. Marcus Johansson, Capitals RW

THE INJURIES

• Forward Teddy Blueger has resumed practicing with the team as he recovers from an upper-body injury. He's day-to-day, but he was placed on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 11. He's fulfilled the long-term injured reserve minimum length requirements and can return whenever he is healthy.

• Defenseman P.O Joseph left this game in the second period with a lower-body injury. It's not clear how he sustained it.

• Defenseman Jan Rutta left this game in the second period with an upper-body injury, seemingly sustained from a hit from Ovechkin.

• Forward Filip Hallander left this game in the third period after he was hit up high by Conor Sheary, though he did briefly return at the end.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Danton Heinen
Filip Hallander - Ryan Poehling - Josh Archibald

Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
P.O Joseph - Jeff Petry
Brian Dumoulin - Jan Rutta

And for Peter Laviolette's Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Conor Sheary
Sonny Milano - Dylan Strome - Marcus Johansson
Anthony Mantha - Lars Eller - Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Aliaksei Protas - Nic Dowd - Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson - Trevor van Riemsdyk
Martin Fehervary - Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev - Matt Irwin

THE SCHEDULE

Next up on the road trip are the Maple Leafs on Friday and Canadiens on Saturday. The Penguins had a scheduled practice day Thursday in Toronto but canceled it after the game. That means we likely won't get updates on Joseph, Rutta or Hallander until Friday at the morning skate.

THE CONTENT

Visit our team page for everything.