Letang’s injury status is week-to-week
The latest of the Penguins injuries has reached their blueline.
Kris Letang, who left the 6-4 loss Monday night in Boston, will be “week-to-week” with a lowerbody injury, coach Mike Sullivan said Friday.
The All-Star defenseman remained with the club in New York as the two-game road trip continued. Initially, the team said they were continuing to evaluate Letang’s condition. Friday was the first time the Penguins provided further details.
“Obviously, we’d like to have him back as quickly as we can,” Sullivan said. “That’s where he’s at right now. We’ll take each week as it comes, and I’ll update you as we go.”
When he’s playing, Letang is one of the NHL’s best and most unique defensemen. The problem is keeping him on the ice.
Letang has endured a long list of injuries throughout his career. Multiple concussions. A broken toe. Broken foot. Broken hand. An elbow infection. Groin and knee injuries. Numerous unspecified upper- and lower-body injuries.
Most notably, he missed several months in the second half of the 2013-14 season after suffering a stroke.
If you add it up, Letang has missed more than 150 games over the past six seasons ... and counting.
While the injuries are no fault of his own, suffering another one is surely a disappointment for a team that already has endured injures to six forwards.
Letang was off to a hot start offensively, recording 12 points in the first 15 games he was able to play.
In his absence, impressive rookie John Marino stepped in to play on the top pairing with Brian Dumoulin in the win Thursday against the New York Islanders.
The pairings were unchanged Friday at practice. Justin Schultz and Marcus Pettersson skated together on the second pairing. Juuso Riikola and Jack Johnson made up the third.
Nickname sticks
In junior hockey, Jared McCann had a nickname: “Chucky.” Yes, as in Alex Galchenyuk, his Penguins teammate. As the story goes, an equipment rep for McCann’s team was the same one that represented the Sarnia Sting, where Galchenyuk played before the NHL.
“He was always carrying around Galchenyuk sticks,” McCann said. “I was like, oh, I want to try these out. I scored a hat trick my first game with it. I was like, wow, I can’t change back now.”
When his teammates saw “Chucky 27” on his stick, that’s when the nickname started.
“Everyone started calling me Chucky,” McCann said. “I was like, guys, this isn’t my stick.”
Now, years after he tried Galchenyuk’s stick, McCann took a shot at something else: Galchenyuk’s spot in the lineup.
In an effort to spark a comeback, Sullivan moved Galchenyuk up to play on the Sidney CrosbyJake Guentzel line. McCann filled Galchenyuk’s spot on the second line, playing alongside Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust.
“I’m just trying to complement them as much as I can,” McCann said. “Just be the guy who gets in the corners or who brings the physical presence or whatever I’ve got to do to help that line be better.”
The chemistry was obvious. Rust scored two goal, McCann one, Malkin one as a three-goal deficit became an overtime win.
“He’s a guy who brings a lot of speed,” Rust said. “He’s also got a pretty high skill level. That, combined with Geno, works really well. Geno works with guys who can play up and down the ice fast and create some space with him. “The more we can do that, the more successful our line is going to be.”
Cure for power play?
The Penguins power-play slump has reached double digits. They have not scored with the man advantage since Oct. 13 against Winnipeg, a span of 10plus games and 23 opportunities.
In an effort to spark something, Sullivan shook up the units at practice Friday by separating stars Crosby and Malkin.
The top unit featured Crosby, Galchenyuk, Guentzel, Nick Bjugstad and Juuso Riikola.
The other unit included Malkin, Pettersson, Schultz, McCann and Dominik Kahun.
“Sometimes as a power-play group, when you’re not having success, there’s a tendency to squeeze sticks,” Sullivan said. “These guys are proud guys, and they want to contribute and help the team win.
“Sometimes to split them up and put them on separate units tweaks the mindset a little bit.”