It's been a long and challenging road back to the lineup for Teddy Blueger.
The 28-year-old suffered an upper-body injury in the middle of training camp that completely derailed his preparation for the season. As he rehabbed, he had good days and bad days, at one point describing the injury as the most frustrating he'd ever had from a return-to-play standpoint.
Blueger wasn't away from the ice all that long after the injury occurred, but the nature of the injury prevented him from making a speedy return to game action. Ron Hextall said he was hopeful that Blueger would be ready to be activated from long-term injured reserve for the Penguins' Nov. 5 matchup at home against the Kraken, but it wasn't until 10 days later that Blueger was activated and made his season debut in the Penguins' 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs here at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.
"I felt pretty good," Blueger told me after the game. "Obviously it was good the first period, just a couple shifts to kind of get my feet back under me, but after that I thought I felt pretty good physically, mentally kind of getting back into it. It felt good."
Blueger played exactly 12 minutes on Tuesday, none of which came while short-handed because the Penguins didn't end up on the penalty-kill at all. Centering the Penguins' fourth line, between Ryan Poehling and Josh Archibald, Blueger attempted two shots that didn't make it on target, threw one hit, had one takeaway, and won 6 of 11 faceoffs.
"It felt like it’d been a year since I played," Blueger said. "Felt great to be back out there, the preparations and all that and just being a part of it with the guys, that part was good."
Mike Sullivan was rather impressed with Blueger's debut, noting several of the qualities that have established Blueger as an important member of the Penguins' bottom-six.
"I thought Teddy was really good," Sullivan told me. "He was good in the faceoff circle, he was sound defensively, I thought he had good poise with the puck for someone that’s missed as much time as he has. That first game is never an easy one from a timing standpoint, and it’s hard to simulate an NHL game intensity in a training environment. I thought he had a real strong game, I thought his line was really good for us, as well."
The fourth line played just under 10 minutes together, and they were immensely effective at preventing the Maple Leafs from getting any sort of offense going. Here's how the Penguins fared with them out there:
• 9 shot attempts (6 unblocked)
• 6 shot attempts against (1 unblocked)
• 94.7% share of expected goals
While the Penguins' fourth line didn't necessarily play poorly in their own end this season without Blueger, they weren't exactly the same shutdown line that Blueger typically drives.
"They got a number of defensive-zone starts against Toronto’s top players, they did a real good job checking them when they were out there," Sullivan said of the fourth line in Tuesday's game. "I thought they were good on the forecheck, they had some O-zone time. They helped us build some momentum with some of their energy shifts, and that’s what we’re asking of them."
The one Maple Leafs shot attempt the fourth line didn't block came when they were out against Auston Matthews' line in the third period. Up until that point, they had not allowed a single Maple Leafs attempt to make its way in on Casey DeSmith in goal. The attempt that didn't get blocked was inconsequential, anyway, as you can see from its location:
Evolving-Hockey.com
Toronto Maple Leafs unblocked shot attempts with Teddy Blueger on the ice at 5-on-5.
Yeah, that tiny little green square at the left circle was all the Maple Leafs could come up with offensively when the fourth line was out on the ice.
"Everyone trusted each other and just did their job," Ryan Poehling told me as to how they found success in this one. "I think that was the biggest thing. We competed hard, and I think when we were playing offense, we made it harder for them to transition into their fast game. We stayed on top of pucks and that made it hard on them."
Blueger also referenced not getting caught up ice as a big reason for the defensive success, but feels as if they could have done a bit more to turn their offensive-zone pressure into chances.
"I thought we were responsible defensively, good positions, we always had a guy back," Blueger told me. "I think we probably would’ve liked to maybe chip in a little more offensively and get something going. I thought we had some offensive-zone pressure, but not necessarily a lot of time of possession with the puck, so I think that’s something that we would’ve looked to do a better job of."
After talking with Blueger, Poehling told me he felt as if a bounce here or there had gone their way, the fourth line might have wound up with the puck in the back of the net once. I mentioned to him Blueger's comment about bringing more offensively, and asked what needs to happen for them to accomplish that.
"I think you just got to get pucks to the net and then good things will happen," Poehling said. "So if you can generate shots — I mean, this league is hard to score 5-on-5, so it’s honestly a matter of quantity. So if you can just keep getting pucks there, things will open up, I think."
Regardless of the offense coming around or not, the fourth line finally flashed exactly what is needed from them on a consistent basis. The top line is struggling right now, as Taylor Haase reports, but the Penguins' top-six will score goals over the course of the season. A true defensive line that can go out against top competition in any situation is what they've been missing.
Blueger is at the forefront of rectifying that.
Over the past three seasons, no Penguins forward has a greater isolated impact toward limiting quality chances against. In fact, there are only a handful of forwards around the league who grade out with better defensive impacts than Blueger.
A fourth line that plays sound defensive hockey isn't going to win you many games by itself, as was abundantly clear on Tuesday, but it can be part of a solid foundation that puts the Penguins closer to success and gives them one less item to have to worry about.
