3 Things: Schultz out, second line success
1. Schultz, Murray update
Pens defenseman Justin Schultz left Tuesday night's contest against the NY Rangers after suffering a lower-body injury. He is currently listed as "out" by the team and was absent from Wednesday's practice.
"He was re-evaluated this morning, we haven't gotten the results yet," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "His status is the same as it was last night."
Though Schultz is unlikely to play in Pittsburgh's Thursday night contest against the New York Islanders at PPG Paints Arena, the coaching staff hasn't completely dismissed the possibility.
"I'm not going to rule him out," Sullivan said, "but it's not probable at this point."
With Schultz out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, Chad Ruhwedel will likely step in for Pittsburgh. He's appeared in 21 games this season for the Pens and could slot in next to Schultz's usual partner Ian Cole.
"We played together a lot last year and seemed to have some good chemistry," Ruhwedel said. "Really easy guy to play with, he's always in the right spot. If I'm in, we'll find out tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to it."
Sullivan also had an update on the status of injured goaltender Matt Murray, who has been out with a lower-body injury.
"He's making progress," Sullivan said. "He's skating on his own. That's the process that he's going through, no equipment, then full equipment, then he'll join us for practice."
2. Second City
There is no doubt that the Pens' line of Jake Guentzel, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel was their best during Tuesday's game. The trio generated the most zone time and greatest number of quality scoring chances.
The triumvirate connected for a goal when Kessel buried his team-leading 13th of the season. In the past 3 games, since Malkin returned from an upper-body injury, the threesome have combined for 3 goals and 9 points, led by Malkin's 4 points.
"I thought their line in particular was really good last night," Sullivan said. "When 'Geno' is playing like that you can see the difference maker that he is. If we're going to get to where we want to go we're going to need that from not only his line, but others. Last night in particular, I thought his line was really good."
The line has had varying degrees of success this season. At times they've been dominant. At others, they've appeared disjointed. But the past 3 games have been their most consistent stretch of play together.
"We're all moving in the offensive zone," Guentzel said. "We're not standing still. We're supporting each other. That's the biggest thing. If we keep doing that then things will go well."
Guentzel aslo credits their recent offensive success to their defensive effort.
"We're hard on pucks and not turning them over at the blue line," he said. "I think that's the biggest thing for us. If we do that and get it behind their D, we'll have success.
"I think we know that we have to defend hard and the offense will come. If we do that and are good in the D zone, we have the offensive talent on our line. We just have to make some players."
3. Practice Details
* Injured players Murray and Schultz were the only absentees from the team's practice.
* Center Greg McKegg practiced with the Pens, but was placed on waivers. Other NHL organizations have until noon Wednesday to claim him. If not, the Pens will retain his rights. Either way, the move gives the Pens the ability to make roster call-ups with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The move wasn't due to McKegg's play.
"I think (general manager) Jim (Rutherford's) motivation was more about just flexibility," Sullivan said. "'Kegger' has been a hard worker for us, he's played some good minutes for us. I think it was more about flexibility than anything."
* The Pens used the following workflow at practice…
Sheary-Crosby-Hornqvist
Guentzel-Malkin-Kessel
Hagelin-Sheahan-Rust
Kuhnhackl-Rowney-Reaves
(McKegg)
Dumoulin-Letang
Maatta-Hunwick
Cole-Ruhwedel
