Dumoulin gets up to speed in return
After a 15-game layoff, Brian Dumoulin was right back where you would expect him to be Saturday as the Penguins clung to a late 4-3 lead against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Dumoulin and Kris Letang were on the ice for the final 47 seconds of the win. The Penguins were called for icing with seven seconds left, leaving Dumoulin gasping for air. But the Penguins threw up a wall after the Flyers won that draw.
“There’s only seven seconds left, so you’ve just got to suck it up,” he said.
The Penguins activated Dumoulin from injured reserve Saturday, clearing the way for him to return to the lineup at PPG Paints Arena.
Dumoulin had been out with a lower-body injury since Jan. 26, forcing them to try to fill his sizable void.
“It’s been a long five and a half weeks but it feels good to be back,” he said.
Dumoulin detailed what happened on the play he was hurt on in Boston.
“I tried to go down on one knee and take away the ice and I got kind of caught,” the 29-year-old said. “And I was just in a horrible position when I fell.”
Dumoulin resumed skating a little less than three weeks ago and his activity has since ramped up. He practiced without contact restrictions Friday afternoon.
A day later, he found himself dropped into a fastpaced game that felt a lot like the postseason. Dumoulin said he made a “mental note to keep my feet moving and keep skating.” He got flat-footed on his first shift, leading to a Flyers odd-man rush. But the big blue-liner appeared to settle in as the game went on.
“It’s good. You’re right back in it. Obviously, it’s hard to simulate game speed and game pace. But we try our best,” he said. “Working with Ty Hennes and the strength and athletic trainers, they helped me out a lot trying to simulate that.”
Dumoulin logged 23:39 of ice time, second on the Penguins to only Letang. His stat line included one shot, one hit, two takeaways and two blocked shots.
His teammates were pretty pumped to have him back there on the blue line.
“He plays some real big minutes. He does a lot of those unsung-hero-type things. And he’s just an awesome guy. He helps lead this team, for sure,” said Bryan Rust, who quipped, “And it’s definitely good to have our locker room DJ back.”
Trust in the new guys
With Dumoulin back in the mix, Marcus Pettersson was reunited with John Marino. But when the Penguins shortened their bench late in the game, they weren’t the ones called upon whenever Letang and Dumoulin needed a rest.
Coach Mike Sullivan and assistant Todd Reirden, who oversees the defense during games, turned to newcomers Mike Matheson and Cody Ceci. At one point, those two were sent over the boards following a stoppage with 1:22 remaining.
“We’re trying to get the guys on the ice that are going to help us win,” Sullivan said. “So there’s a little bit of internal competition there. … [Matheson and Ceci], I thought, had a strong game for us and that’s why you saw them on the ice.”
Pettersson and Marino, meanwhile, each were a minus-1 in the win. Pettersson took three penalties, one of which the Flyers cashed in for a power-play goal.
More moves
The Penguins also activated Evan Rodrigues from injured reserve. The versatile forward had not suited up since suffering a lowerbody injury Jan. 24. He skated on the fourth line Saturday alongside Sam Lafferty and Mark
Jankowskiy.
The team also placed Colton Sceviour on the NHL’s COVID protocol list. He is the third Penguins player to be put on the list since the start of the regular season. Thus, the veteran forward was not in the lineup against the Flyers.
Nor was blue-liner Mark Friedman, who is day-today with upper-body injury.
Anthony Angello, who turned 25 Saturday, was added to the NHL roster prior to the game but didn’t play against the Flyers. Defenseman Josh Maniscalco was called up from the American Hockey League to take his spot on the taxi squad.