Penguins Update: The Injury Bug Bites (Hard)

I didn’t have any fresh ideas for articles yesterday and was kind of on cruise control as far as our Penguins were concerned. After all, we were fresh off a big win over Vegas. What could possibly happen on a day off, right?

Then I happened to check NHL.com last night and was stunned by the headline, “Rust, Rakell and Ruhwedel sidelined for Penguins.”

Yikes.

It appears the ol’ injury bug decided to make a ‘PIT’ stop (poor pun intended).

To digress, our Pens have been fortunate if not downright blessed to be relatively injury free thus far. By comparison, the Lightning have been without all-world goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy since September. Tonight’s foe, the Rangers, have been missing all-star defenseman and puck-mover extraordinaire Adam Fox.

Given our collective age and the physically demanding nature of the sport, it was only a matter of time before our luck ran out or the law of averages caught up to us…take your pick.

Still, it doesn’t make the pill any less bitter or more palatable.

Highlighting a bevy of injury-induced roster moves, the Pens placed snakebitten winger Rickard Rakell on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Veteran defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, who’s excelled on the penalty-kill of late, has been placed on regular injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He’ll be out “week-to-week.”

As if we needed any more bad news, sparkplug Bryan Rust is dealing with a lower-body injury that forced an early exit from yesterday’s practice. He may miss tonight’s key Metro tilt with the Rangers. Fourth-liner Matt Nieto was given a maintenance day, one of several he’s received of late. Defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph is also out with an unspecified injury.

That’s a lot of horse-flesh to have locked in the stable.

On the plus side of the ledger, Vinnie Hinostroza appears to be rarin’ to go after sitting out against the Golden Knights. Feisty defenseman John Ludvig, eligible to come off LTIR, has formally been recalled. The Pens signed another blueliner, Dmitri Samorukov, to a one-year deal for a cap hit of $775 K. A left-hand shot, the 6’3” 188-pounder has tallied a goal and five points in 15 games with the Baby Pens. The stay-at-home defender has three games of NHL experience, one with the Oilers and two last season with the Blues.

In addition, the Pens recalled forwards Jansen Harkins and Alex Nylander from northeastern PA. Following a difficult start with the Pens, the former has hit his stride in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to the tune of four goals and nine points in 11 games. Nylander, who failed to stick with the big club following a tepid preseason, has been hot of late. He’s notched a team-best five goals for the Baby Pens along with eight points in 11 games.

Obviously, the situation is less than ideal, especially for a team that was beginning to jell following a rocky 3-6 start.

While hardly thrilled with the unfortunate shift in our fates, coach Mike Sullivan was pragmatic.

“Our expectation is that we have enough (players), we have enough to win games,” he said. “We have depth at all the positions. It’s going to provide opportunity for others to step up there.

“It’s part of the game, and we’ve got to figure out a way to navigate through it and find ways to have success.”

Which, IMHO, makes it doubly important that our guys pay attention to detail and play with structure, instead of getting lured into the track meets we tend to favor.

Nod to Ned?

To my knowledge, there hasn’t been any official word on who’s going to start in goal tonight. But if I had my druthers, it would be Alex Nedeljkovic. Fresh off a sterling 38-save shutout of Vegas, he’s really impressed me with his quickness, rebound control and coolness under fire.

He’s got a touch of swagger, too.

While starter Tristan Jarry has certainly had his moments (three shutouts), he’s been consistently inconsistent if that makes any sense. I just don’t feel as comfortable with him between the pipes as I do “Ned.”