Streit handles playoff role
The Penguins’ game-day skate Wednesday had been over for 20 or so minutes, and their locker room at PPG Paints Arena had pretty well cleared out.
Only a small cluster of team officials and reporters, waiting for the guys who’d stayed on for extra work, remained.
Backup goalie Tristan Jarry was first into the room, followed by rookie center Oskar Sundqvist.
Then came Mark Streit, the veteran defenseman acquired from Philadelphia (via Tampa Bay) at the trade deadline to bolster the depth chart for the stretch drive and playoffs.
But who, as the Penguins try to close out their secondround series against Washington with a victory in Game 5 at 7:15 p.m.Saturday at Verizon Center, has yet to take his first shift in this postseason.
The Penguins have dressed the same six defensemen — Olli Maatta, Justin Schultz, Trevor Daley, Brian Dumoulin, Ian Cole and Ron Hainsey — for their first eight playoff games.
Some, if not most, of them have had significant bumps and bruises, but none severe enough to knock them out of the lineup.
And so Streit, along with fellow defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, continues to prepare for the opportunity there’s no guarantee will come.
“Obviously, when you don’t play, it’s a tough spot,’ Streit said. “We’re all hockey players. You want to play. You want to be part of it. But it is what it is.
“I didn’t expect it, but at the time [he was acquired], there were a lot of injuries and guys came back, got healthy. That’s probably the reason for it.”
Streit, 39, appeared in 19 games with the Penguins, putting up one goal and five assists while averaging a little more than 17 minutes of ice time.
These days, he spends game nights doing off-ice workouts, part of a training regimen that includes extra skating and conditioning and is designed to have him as game-ready as possible.
Staying sharp is a particular challenge at this time of year, because full-squad practices can be relatively rare, limiting the times Streit finds himself in game-type situations.
“At this time of year, there aren’t a lot of team practices,” he said. “Guys basically play and rest and save their energy. There’s not a whole lot, as a team, to do, so you have to do things on your own, and with all the other guys who don’t play.”
Streit has not been in a game since the Penguins’ regular-season finale April 9 against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, so adjusting to being inserted into a playoff series, whenever it might happen, likely will be a challenge.
“The speed of the game in the playoffs is another level, compared to the regular season,” he said. “It’s going to be one of those things like when you are injured and you’re coming back.
“You miss a month or two and you come back and play, that first game, there’s usually a lot of rust. You just want to keep it simple, have short shifts. I think it’s going to be a similar situation.”
But having rust accumulate on his skills isn’t necessarily the most difficult part of sitting out.
“I think mentally is way tougher, because you want to play … it’s the best time of the year, and you don’t get to play, so it’s hard,” he said.
Still, Streit seems willing to wait for his chance to contribute this spring.
“It’s part of the business,” he said. “It’s a great hockey team, a great organization, and I’m very happy to be here.”