The Penguins returned to the ice at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday in preparation for Thursday night’s clash with Colorado.
After suffering their third straight loss on Tuesday night, falling 4-1 to Dallas, players emphasized the importance of maintaining perspective and composure, especially this early in the season.
“You just can’t get down,” Reilly Smith said. “You have to keep positive and make sure you’re enjoying your time to come to the rink and making the most of every opportunity.
“We’ll find a way to get out of this. Better to go through it now than late in the season.”
Matt Nieto echoed that sentiment, with the forward getting a chance to play against his former team tomorrow night. He spent parts of four seasons with the Avalanche from 2016 to 2020, as well as a brief reunion with the club in the second half of last season.
“Everyone in this room has gone through stretches where things might not go as you want them to. Everyone in this room knows how to get out of it,” he said. “We’ve had some discussions about it and we’re looking forward to a good challenge tomorrow."
“It’s going to be a tough challenge, but I think it’s one we need right now,” Jake Guentzel said. “It’ll be a good one.”
The Penguins certainly have a tough task ahead of them as the Avalanche, who won the Stanley Cup in 2021, are undefeated to start the season and have won 15 straight road games dating back to last year.
“They’re quick. They move the puck quick,” said Sidney Crosby, who is close friends with Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon, as the pair hail from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. “They have a lot of guys that are really dangerous if you give them time and space. Just understanding who you’re against and trying to limit their chances.”
Chances are something the Penguins had plenty of against the Stars, but the puck isn’t going in for them right now. Bryan Rust - the team’s hottest goal scorer with five tallies in six games - said they need to focus on getting more bodies in front of the net for some ugly goals.
"You have to find alternate ways to score,” Smith said. “That was part of practice today. Just getting back to it.”
It would also help if the power play could find a couple, as Pittsburgh has tallied on the man-advantage in just one game thus far, scoring twice against Washington back on Oct. 13. Rust moved onto the top unit with Guentzel, Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson, and they had some looks last night, but couldn’t convert.
“I think that we maybe have a little bit more urgency out there, and take matters into our own hands,” Karlsson said. “I think whether it's me or Geno or Sid or Rusty or Guentz, we're all capable of doing that. We just need to take charge a little bit more, and the rest will follow."
Moving along this four-game homestand, with games every other night, the Penguins are grateful for the opportunity to work through their issues more quickly compared to the first two-plus weeks of the season. Especially with so many new faces, as Karlsson mentioned.
"Last night we played a team that's been together for a long period of time - they’ve got one or two guys to slot in, and we have about 10 to 12 guys that need to be slotted in," Karlsson said. "It’s going to go a little bit up and down here, I think. But I think we have to just stick with it. We know what group we have in here, we know the characters that we have, and we know the players that we are on this team that we're striving towards to be. We got to get there somehow.
"I think we all knew, even though we never really talked about it, that it's going to be a challenge. But at the same time, I think it's a fun challenge, and I don't necessarily see this period of time as something bad for us."
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Two players were absent from practice. Head Coach Mike Sullivan said that defenseman John Ludvig has been diagnosed with a concussion after a scary collision in the second period of his NHL debut.
"I'm disappointed for him,” Sullivan said. “He was so excited to play his first NHL game. I thought he was playing really well in that first part of the game there. So, it’s unfortunate. I feel badly for him. That’s a tough circumstance. But we’ll work with him here, and our medical staff will do their very best to get him back in a timely fashion, and we'll go from there."
Ryan Shea, who played on the third pairing alongside Ludvig last night, alternated with P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel during line rushes. UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex Goaltending Professional Mike Chiasson took the net opposite Tristan Jarry, as Alex Nedeljkovic is being evaluated for a lower-body injury sustained in last night’s game.
"He tried to practice today; it was bothering him to the point where we've got to take further action with the evaluation process,” Sullivan said.
The Penguins ended up recalling goaltender Magnus Hellberg. The 6-foot-6 netminder has played in parts of five seasons in the NHL with Ottawa, Seattle, Detroit, the New York Rangers and Nashville Predators, appearing in 23 career games.
