Another day, another defenseman down.
The Penguins placed Marcus Pettersson on the NHL's Long-Term Injured Reserve list Monday morning, just after their skate at PPG Paints Arena to prepare for the evening's game against the Senators. He thus joined Dmitry Kulikov on LTIR, and Jan Rutta and Jeff Petry are also hurt, meaning two-thirds of the team's expected starting six defensemen aren't available.
Even as the team's clinging to a Stanley Cup playoff berth by a solitary point.
I asked Mike Sullivan after the skate if this might be the type of situation that actually galvanizes his group to focus on preventing goals, a season-long shortcoming.
"Well, I think so," he replied. "I think we can rally around this. It's a great opportunity for some guys to step up and play bigger roles back there. It's an opportunity for all the rest of us to make sure that we play an inspired game, a spirited game, a game that's stingy defensively."
Pettersson sustained a lower-body injury Saturday in New York, in the second period of the 6-0 loss to the Rangers. It's not known how he was hurt. He returned for a single shift in the third, then exited a second time. His status, Sullivan said, is "week to week," though he isn't eligible to come off LTIR until April 13, the date of the regular-season finale in Columbus, Ohio.
The same "week to week" status, he added, applies to Rutta and Kulikov.
The lone bright spot: Petry skated on his own here Monday morning, and his status, Sullivan said, is "day to day."
Pettersson's replacement came in the form of journeyman Taylor Fedun being recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.
Fedun, 34, is the team captain there, and he's got three goals and seven assists in 53 games. He's also spent parts of seven seasons in the NHL with the Oilers, Sharks, Canucks, Sabres and Stars. This will mark his first appearance with the Penguins in his second season in their system.
I asked Fedun how he'll approach this game:
"I think, for me, it'll be playing the way I always do," he replied. "Trying to battle hard out there, move pucks up to our skilled forwards, defend hard and keep it pretty simple."
Based on the line rushes shown at the skate, he'll be on the third pairing alongside Mark Friedman, who'll slide to the left side.
Friedman's among those who'll see the bigger role that Sullivan cited. Same with Chad Ruhwedel and P.O Joseph.
"We want to be as healthy as possible," Joseph said. "We're obviously a dangerous team with everybody in the lineup. I think we've just got to compensate for the people who are out."
The timing couldn't be much worse for the Penguins, fresh off losing three in a row and just having been smoked at Madison Square Garden. They've got 78 points in holding the Eastern Conference's final wild card spot, while the surging Panthers have 77.
"I think you have to be a little more desperate and understand that simplifying things become more important," Sidney Crosby said after the skate. "Guys are going to be playing different roles and different minutes, and you just want to make sure you're helping each other. I think, if anything, you try to simplify things more when guys are out and, hopefully, that helps."
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• Tristan Jarry will start in goal. He's been pulled from four of his past 11 starts, including Saturday in New York, but Sullivan showed no hesitation in explaining his reasoning: "There's a lot of things that go into the decision ... At the end of the day, Jarrs is a real good goalie. And we know what he's capable of. And he's a lot closer than what the numbers look like, and we feel he's a guy we're going to need here down the stretch."
• Lines and pairings in the skate, which wasn't optional:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen-Ryan Poehling-Mikael Granlund
Drew O’Connor-Jeff Carter-Josh Archibald
(Alex Nylander)
P.O Joseph-Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin-Chad Ruhwedel
Mark Friedman-Taylor Fedun
• It's worth noting that Fedun was in the skate for only a couple minutes before having to leave the ice since his recall hadn't yet been formally announced. But the drills made clear he'd align with Friedman.
• The Senators have lost five in a row while giving up a total of 26 goals, largely because of dismal goaltending with both of their starters, Cam Talbot and Anton Forsberg, injured. Their choice of goaltenders for tonight is between Mads Sogaard, owner of an .881 save percentage through 12 games, and newly recalled Dylan Ferguson.
After the Senators' skate here, D.J. Smith, apparently a fan of suspense thrillers, said he wouldn't reveal which of those two will play tonight until before faceoff.
