Penguins Update: Injuries Taking a Toll

“Oh no.”

Not very expressive, I’ll grant you. But those were my exact words when the NBCSN cameras showed an up-close-and-personal shot of Penguins forward Conor Sheary grimacing on the bench. Shortly after he blocked a shot during the first period of last night’s dismal 6-2 loss to the Flyers.

Followed moments later by the inevitable, soul-crushing announcement from between-the-benches guy Brian Boucher. “Sheary has gone to the locker room.”

Sheeeesh.

I don’t mean to whine. And I hate to keep harping on it. But how many bitter pills are our Pens expected to swallow?

In rapid succession, we’ve lost both top-line wingers and a red-hot Evgeni Malkin, who was making a concerted run at the Art Ross Trophy before pulling up lame 12 days ago. Not to mention Ron Hainsey, who GM Jim Rutherford acquired at the trade deadline partly due to his iron-man reputation.

Even the durable defenseman, who’d missed only a handful of games to injury over the course of his long career, wasn’t immune to the Steel City Curse. Makes me wonder if PPG Paints Arena wasn’t constructed on some ancient burial ground. Or, at the very least, the site of an old Sherwin-Williams factory.

No team, even one as comparatively deep as the Pens, can be expected to absorb such significant losses and continue to win. At least not on a consistent basis. Strip John Carlson, Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetzov, Dmitry Orlov and T.J. Oshie from the Washington Capitals’ lineup and see how well they do.

Not to belabor the point, but seven players on the present roster started the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That doesn’t include recent acquisitions Hainsey and Mark Streit, who were brought in specifically to plug gaps. That’s a significant chunk of the team.

Hopefully, the law of averages will catch up to us and we’ll eventually start to get players back. Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review shared some rare good news on the injury front, noting that Hainsey, Trevor Daley, Jake Guentzel, Olli Maatta and Kris Letang (yes, Letang!) skated before the team’s Sunday practice.

“They’re all making progress,” coach Mike Sullivan noted. “Some of them off the ice, some of them on the ice, but they’re all making progress. We’re hopeful that we’re going to get a few of them back here pretty soon.”

Thank goodness. At least there’s a shred of daylight piercing the impenetrable gloom surrounding the club’s injury situation.

Meanwhile? I fear we’ll be forced to endure more games like last night’s debacle. The Pens skated hard through the early going, grabbing a 1-0 lead on a hustle goal by Matt Cullen. Piled up a 12-7 edge in shots on goal, to boot.

Then Sheary left, Cameron Gaunce lost a rousing, if ill-timed, fight to Philly’s Brandon Manning, and the life drained out of our guys.

The Pens spent the better part of the next 45 minutes leaking goals and trying to clear their zone before a tally by Patric Hornqvist at 13:36 of the third period mercifully ignited a little push. Soon to be snuffed out by a pair of late Flyers goals.

While it grates on me no end to play patsy for a very ordinary Philly team—on home ice, no less—I’ll try to stay upbeat. After all, this string of ill-fortune, incredible as it’s been, won’t last forever.

Gotta’ keep the faith.

Puckpourri

The Flyers dominated the stats last night, including shots on goal (33-27), hits (38-27), blocked shots (18-13) and faceoffs (58 percent).

Chris Kunitz assisted on Cullen’s goal—his first point in seven games and his second in the past 14. Scott Wilson returned from a one-game absence, bumping Josh Archibald to the press box.

David Warsofsky replaced Chad Ruhwedel on defense. The Massachusetts native led the Pens with four blocked shots, registered three shots on goal and collected an assist in 19:06 of ice time. He finished the game a minus-1.

In 50 games with the Baby Pens, Warsofsky tallied 15 goals and 44 points to go with an AHL-best plus-31.

Sullivan described Sheary as “day to day” with a lower-body injury.