The Penguins were victorious in their last game before the Erik Gudbrunson era is set to begin. They dusted the Columbus Blue Jackets by a score of 5-2. Columbus went all-in at the deadline and after last night are the team that finds themselves on the outside looking in. There is plenty of hockey left, but there is potential the Blue Jackets not only might not win a playoff round, but not make the playoffs at all. Ouch.
Erik Gudbranson was unable to make his debut last night due to immigration reasons. Who needs a wall when you could line the border with NHL work visa hoops?
The big story from last night was the victory. Pittsburgh is in desperation mode. They need to take two points any way they can. It just so happens that they played well against a team they are directly fighting with. It didn’t come without cost.
Bryan Rust and Chad Ruhwedel left the game via injury and did not return to the game. For the second consecutive game the Penguins had to play with only five defenseman. In Ruhwedel’s case it was an unfortunate result of playing a contact sport. He was seen wearing a sling after the contest. It has been a tough year for Ruhwedel. He’s been weirdly scratched for most of the season despite the team needing a right side defender. He finally has his chance to play and gets hurt.
In Bryan Rust’s case he was hit by Adam McQuaid in what should be considered interference in 2019. That is the extent of McQuaid’s value. Throwing hits with the puck away. Rust’s ankle looks to be the issue. A high ankle sprain would be a long and dragged out recovery. Rust is able to play up and down the lineup and gives a coach flexibility with roster deployment. We’ll see how severe the injury is.
Jared McCann had a great night. He scored two goals and his speed is evident. I spoke about how I can see the first round pedigree in his play. He’s not your typical bottom six player who has tunnel vision and doesn’t look to make plays. His overall possession numbers since joining Pittsburgh are not good. He’s around 44% in his 13 games. I looked into this and his top two Pittsburgh linemates are Jack Johnson and Patric Hornqvist. Two players who aren’t very good at moving the puck. With the sample size growing on McCann I have an idea for his deployment and that would be to put him with Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel to play the Carl Hagelin role. He’s fast and seemingly works hard. Those were staples of Hagelin’s game. The bonus here is McCann has better hands and a shot. It’s worth it to try and see if he can play that role.
Here’s an interesting factoid about Jared McCann. He was actually traded for Erik Gudbranson. Florida received McCann, a second round pick, and a fourth round pick for Gudbranson. Brutal deal for Vancouver.
Erik Gudbranson is great in the room. I’m not going to dispute the claim. I believe the people who say that. The problem is when it is the only selling point on a player. It also makes you ask the question, why do the Penguins need to acquire players solely for their “intangibles…? They have 13 players on the active roster whose names are on the Stanely Cup. When other teams bring in “character… players a lot of times the selling point is that they have been on a championship team. Shouldn’t the Penguins be set in this regard? I mean c’mon. Stop with the locker room talk. If the Penguins don’t have enough good “locker room guys… who the hell does? And if that is the case how many is enough? It’s almost like it is a ridiculous premise.
The team has a few days to rest up. They don’t play again until Friday when they visit Buffalo
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