Life comes at you fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you might miss it.
Kris Letang surprised everybody when he joined the Penguins for practice at the UPMC Lemieux Complex in Cranberry on Thursday, just 10 days after suffering a stroke.
Two days later, Mike Sullivan surprised everybody when he mentioned prior to the Penguins' matchup with the Sabres that Letang would be available for the game.
Having missed just five games, Letang shockingly returned to the lineup here at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday as the Penguins beat the Sabres 3-1, rolling to their fifth win in a row.
Letang played on a pairing with P.O Joseph, and while Marcus Pettersson and Jeff Petry were listed in the lineup as the Penguins' top pairing, Letang reclaimed his role as the blue line's top dog and workhorse instantaneously.
Through the first period of play -- and after one (1) practice with the team, mind you -- Letang led the Penguins in ice-time with 8:06. Of course, he went on to play 22:06 throughout the game, topping all Penguins skaters.
"It feels great," Letang said of getting back to action following the game. "As I was starting to feel better, you get anxious, you want to go back out there. With the schedule, we don't have a chance to practice that much. So tried to prepare the best I could. Timing needs to get a little better, but the legs were there."
Once Letang began to feel better, he started to ramp up the intensity of his on-ice sessions, but he had to wait on medical and blood tests to ensure that his health wasn't in jeopardy before returning. Once those tests came back clear, he "got the green light" to return to the lineup.
"Me and (Todd Reirden) kept track of how I felt," Letang said. "He was asking me if I felt good during the game and [I] felt good."
Think he felt good? Letang threw seven hits, matching his season-high, on top of blocking three Sabres shots.
"Well, it means the world to our team," Sullivan told me of Letang's return. "We’re a whole different defense corps when he’s in the lineup. I’m sure I’m stating the obvious when I say that. He’s just an elite defenseman. He’s good on both sides of the puck, he helps us get out of our end, he defends hard, he just plays in so many situations."
Was the plan all along to let Letang run free, as long as he felt fine?
"As far as his workload was concerned, we were gonna see how it goes and we would communicate with him as the game went on," Sullivan continued. "He was assuring everyone that he felt great, and so, we communicated with him and made decisions accordingly. I thought he played a terrific game coming back."
With Letang on the ice at 5-on-5, the Penguins broke even in goals at 1-1 and were out-attempted by a rather large degree, but part of that can be explained by score effects coming into play after the Penguins took a 2-0 lead fewer than seven minutes into the game. The Penguins didn't have their best in the second or third, but they were committed to playing defense and mostly did a good job keeping the Sabres from getting high-percentage looks.
Letang's best sequence of the night came on Sidney Crosby's second goal of the game to put the Penguins up 3-1 in the third. After the Sabres won an offensive-zone draw looking to tie the game, Letang hunted down Dylan Cozens along the wall before outmuscling him and knocking him off balance. It sparked the transition up ice that led to the goal:
I've got a quick Freeze Frame on the additional components that led to the goal.
Not long before that, Letang and Joseph teamed up to stymie a threatening Sabres rush:
It wasn't Letang's best game by any stretch, but all things considered, it was a great return to the lineup.
Sullivan and the Penguins aren't insensitive to the thought that this seems like a very fast return to action after such a serious health scare, but they remind us that Letang's health remains priority No. 1 and that they are following every bit of guidance from the team doctors and medical professionals.
"I think that’s understandable," Sullivan said regarding concerns, "but what I will tell you is that Kris has a medical team of doctors that have put him through a litany of tests. These are some of the smartest doctors in the world in their respective field, and these are the guys that are making those types of decisions and recommendations. I just have the utmost faith and confidence in the medical team that we have. It starts with our own orthopedic surgeon, (Dr. Dharmesh Vyas). He’s such a great doctor.
"With respect to Tanger’s circumstance, there’s been a group of experts in that aspect that have been in on this conversation. Some people may have questions about it, but these people know a whole lot more about it than we do. What I will tell you is that Kris’ health, first and foremost, is the utmost priority from everybody. That’s a conversation that we have all the time. That’s always at the forefront, is his health, first and foremost. No one has any intention of compromising that. We’ll trust our medical team and we’ll make decisions accordingly."
JOE SARGENT / GETTY
Kris Letang carries the puck against the Sabres on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Regularly scheduled content: Crosby is continuing a historic season at the age of 35. With a three-point night, he's up to 38 points in 28 games and is now on pace for 50 goals and 61 assists over 82 games. Both marks of 50 goals and 111 points would be the second-highest of his entire career.
Here's his first goal of the game that put the Penguins up 2-0 in the first period:
With two 5-on-5 goals in this one, Crosby surpassed Jason Robertson for the most 5-on-5 goals in the league with 14. He also leap-frogged Erik Karlsson for the most 5-on-5 points in the league with 25. Crosby's currently on pace for 73 points just at 5-on-5. If he's able to hold that up, it would check in as the second-most 5-on-5 points in a single season in the stats era (since 2007-08), trailing only the 76 points Henrik Sedin registered at 5-on-5 during the 2009-10 season.
Sullivan thinks Crosby is making a case for the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player.
"He has to be in the conversation, in my opinion," Sullivan said. "He’s the leading goal scorer in the league 5-on-5. He’s got such a mature game. He plays on both sides of the puck. We use him defensively as much as we use him offensively. I think he’s the most complete player in the game, if you ask me. His ability to bring and generate so much offense, but also just his willingness and commitment to defend, just for me makes him, if not the most complete player, certainly one of the top two.
"So for sure, I think he’s building a strong argument for it. When you look at his numbers, there isn’t a better player in the league 5-on-5 right now. Our power play’s starting to play, but the power play, as you guys know, has been a struggle, so he hasn’t really gotten any sort of offensive production on the power play up until this point."
• Perhaps the wildest part about Crosby's 5-on-5 production this season is that he's now one goal shy of tying his 5-on-5 total from last season ... in 41 fewer games. He combined for 20 goals at 5-on-5 in 96 games during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. I asked Sullivan if there's anything to Crosby's 5-on-5 uptick, or if that's just Sid being Sid.
"I just think it’s Sid being the best version of himself," Sullivan told me. "He’s quietly had a real good start to the season. His line, most nights, is dominant. They control the play out there, regardless of who they play against. Sometimes we go power against power, sometimes we don’t, depending on situations and circumstance. No matter who we put him out against, his line tends to control play night in and night out, and he drives the line.
"He’s playing with good players, without a doubt, but I think he’s the guy that — he’s the straw that stirs the drink, so to speak."
• Rickard Rakell opened the scoring with a power-play goal just 4:22 into the game for his 12th goal of the season:
He's up to 19 points in 28 games this season, but he has picked up 12 of those points in the last 14 games. Even if he's not producing at a point-per-game clip, he's making an enormous impact in regard to the Penguins' ability to generate offense. There are only five players in the NHL who have been on the ice for more 5-on-5 goals than the 30 that Rakell's been out there for.
• This was the first time in four games that Rakell did not lead all Penguins forwards in ice-time. Guentzel's 19:01 took the cake.
• Make that five games in a row with a power-play goal for the Penguins. Taylor Haase has more on the team putting it together with the man advantage here.
• The Penguins came out firing on all cylinders after a crummy first period on Friday night. After they hopped out to an early multi-goal lead, though, the Sabres did a good job of pushing back and at least keeping things interesting for most of the game.
"I think the first period, we dictated the pace," Jeff Petry said after the game. "Second period, I don’t think it was our best. We mismanaged the puck a little bit and gave them some chances, but I thought third period, we came back stronger than we did in the second and were able to get the win. That’s the positive coming out of tonight."
• The real positive might be the fact that Petry isn't significantly injured after a late-game collision with Alex Tuch that sent him to the ice in pain, then down the tunnel:
Taylor has more on how Petry was physically feeling after the game here.
• The Penguins are 8-1-1 in their last 10. They are now tied with the Hurricanes for the second-most standings points in the Metro Division with 36. And yet it still feels as if this team is capable of playing even better.
• Evgeni Malkin has only one goal in his last 13 games, but it's not for a lack of chances. He attempted seven shots in just 14:03 of ice-time on top of picking up a primary assist on Rakell's goal on Saturday. Malkin's up to eight assists in his last five games, and now has 28 points in 28 games this season. Just in case you were wondering, Vincent Trocheck has 18 points in 29 games this season for the Rangers.
• Casey DeSmith played his finest game of the season, stopping 37 of 38 shots on goal from the Sabres and saving 2.35 goals above expected based on the quality of chances he faced.
"Really high," DeSmith told me of his current confidence level. "I've been happy with the vast majority of my play this year. Just happy when I can get in there and help the team win. I think the team's come a long in the past month, month and a half. I think we're really hitting our stride, playing the right way, and it's paying off for us."
He's now 4-5-1 this season with a .916 save percentage.
• During the third period, Sullivan bumped Brock McGinn up to the left wing on the second line, swapping him with Jason Zucker to presumably get something going on the third line. It worked about as well as you'd hope -- at least for the third line -- without the puck actually ending up in the back of the net, as Zucker generated two high-danger chances in just over two minutes of work with that line.
• I was a bit surprised at how little Jeff Carter played, not that I necessarily disagree with the way it shook out. 11:23 during all situations stands as his lowest ice-time total of the season other than Oct. 29 in Seattle when he left the game early due to injury.
• It was the quietest game for Kasperi Kapanen since he returned to the lineup after missing large chunks of November as a healthy scratch. He played a team-low 10:55, did not attempt a shot, had two takeaways, and threw four hits.
• Ryan Poehling returned to the lineup after missing the past two games with an upper-body injury. He played 14:04 during the game, 2:16 of which was on the penalty-kill as the Sabres went scoreless on three power-play opportunities. He had two shot attempts -- both on goal -- threw four hits, and drew a penalty.
• Interesting if insignificant note about the penalty-kill usage: It appears that Bryan Rust has usurped Josh Archibald on the PK depth chart, at least for the time being. Even with Poehling back in the fold on the kill, Rust logged 2:19 while short-handed to 1:09 for Archibald.
• Three Pirates players, Quinn Priester, David Bednar and Jack Suwinski, were in attendance for the game. Suwinski's hair would give anyone on the Penguins a run for their money, and that's saying something.
Bucs and Pucks#BurghProud x #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/nATuS0PNsB
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) December 11, 2022
• The Penguins' white jerseys looked so, so good on home ice. It feels like I'm one of the few people who actually like it that teams wear their dark jerseys at home, but I wouldn't mind seeing the Penguins rock the road look at PPG Paints Arena a bit more frequently. Then again, there's a Reverse Retro jersey and alternate jersey that have to be worn at home, as well, so maybe that's just wishful thinking.
• Thanks for reading!
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
2. Casey DeSmith, Penguins G
3. Kris Letang, Penguins D
THE INJURIES
• With both Letang and Poehling returning to the lineup, the Penguins are completely healthy, so long as Petry continues to feel fine.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Ryan Poehling - Teddy Blueger - Josh Archibald
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph - Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin - Jan Rutta
And for Don Granato's Sabres:
Casey Mittelstadt - Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka - Dylan Cozens - Jack Quinn
Rasmus Apslund - Tyson Jost - Victor Olofsson
Zemgus Girgensons - Peyton Krebs - Kyle Okposo
Mattias Samuelsson - Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power - Jacob Bryson
Kale Clague - Casey Fitzgerald
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins have the day off on Sunday. They're back in action for their third game in four nights on Monday against the Stars at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
