Ceci Endears Himself to Pittsburgh

The Penguins' 5-2 loss to Washington on Thursday at Capital One Arena was tough to swallow, but one positive was seeing teammates stick up for each other, as Cody Ceci laid a huge hit on Tom Wilson following his late one on Mark Jankowski.

"Obviously Cody's played a lot of games in this league, and he's been a great player and even better teammate," Brandon Tanev said. "He's quiet and sticks to himself, but he plays the game the right way and he stands up for his teammates in situations. He works hard, he's a great person and a great teammate, and we're lucky to have him here in Pittsburgh."

There has been bad blood between the two rivals for a long time, and that's only been amplified in this shortened season with exclusively intra-divisional play - as tonight marked their sixth matchup in just over a two-month span.
And Wilson really got the blood boiling when he came barreling out of nowhere and crushed Jankowski with an open-ice hit a few seconds after the Penguins center had finished making a play. Jankowski remained down on the ice for a few moments before heading to the locker room.
"I whacked the puck back out of the air and into their end and I just kind of turned," said Jankowski, who was able to return for the second. "I was about to go change, and I got hit."
Wilson received a two-minute minor for interference on the play. Head coach Mike Sullivan declined to comment, instead emphasizing the importance of his team continuing to just play - which has been one of his mantras since first taking over - and to do it the right way.
"Teams are going to try to play physical against us," Sullivan said. "They always do. And we're just going to try to play the game that gives us the best chance to win. That's what we tried to do."
That didn't mean Ceci wasn't able to enact a little revenge - and do it smartly - on the Caps winger in the second period. As Wilson carried the puck through the neutral zone, the Pens defenseman lowered his shoulder and sent him flying with a hard, clean hit.
That is no easy feat, considering Wilson has the advantage in both height and weight. He measures 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, while Ceci measures 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds.
It was a pretty good impression of Ceci's father Parri, a former professional football player. He won the Vanier Cup, which is the championship of Canadian university football, while attending the University of Guelph before going on to play in the CFL for a few years.
Unfortunately, Wilson would go on to get the last laugh by getting the game-winner on a power play in the third period. Which stung even more considering that the Penguins had battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the score 2-2 just a few minutes prior to his tally.
"We did push back in the third and we ended up tying it, but unfortunately they got that power-play goal and then some of those empty nets," Jankowski said. "So we got to take the good from that and move on to the Islanders."