How the team has sought to alleviate Rutta’s absence
Defenseman on IR at least until Tuesday
LOS ANGELES — It’d be understandable if Jan Rutta’s 10-game absence got lost in the shuffle among other notable news surrounding the Penguins.
That’s certainly not intended to be a slight on Rutta. Tristan Jarry has now missed six straight contests; Evgeni Malkin just hit 1,200 career points; and Saturday night, Sidney Crosby received the first game misconduct of his 18-year career in a 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. Several teammates, including Pierre-Olivier Joseph, however, long for Rutta’s steady presence during games on the blue line.
“We miss him out there, and the more healthy we get as a team, the better we are,” Joseph said of Rutta. “We definitely need him and miss him out there.”
Rutta is with the team for its current West Coast road trip, but he hasn’t played due to his residency on long-term injured reserve that will continue until at least Feb. 14. He’ll be eligible to play against the San Jose Sharks that night and very well could return then, given he’s taken part in morning skates and practices in recent days.
Still, the Penguins have been forced to endure life without Rutta since Jan. 14 and have managed to go 5-2-3 in the process. Thankfully for Pittsburgh, Jeff Petry’s return from a wrist injury practically overlapped with Rutta’s departure from the starting lineup. The Penguins split a pair of overtime decisions without both Rutta and Petry.
“The way it happened, I think it was good timing to get myself back,” Petry said.
Before Pittsburgh’s 6- 3 win against Anaheim on Friday, coach Mike Sullivan noted Petry is
getting better with every contest he puts under his belt after missing six weeks of play.
“We’re excited about just playing games and giving him an opportunity to build on his conditioning, his timing, things of that nature,” Sullivan said.
Petry seconded his coach’s comments and mentioned he’s recently been trying to keep his game “simple” and focus on the defensive aspects of his play. Since coming back, Petry has been paired with Marcus Pettersson, one of Pittsburgh’s most consistent players this season during an otherwise wildly unpredictable campaign.
That pairing has played relatively even hockey over the last eight games. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Penguins have been expected to give up 0.7 goals more than they would score with Petry and Pettersson on the ice.
Hardly an eye-popping number, it’s significant in the context of backup goalie Casey DeSmith starting all but two of those games.
Still, the null hockey is a far cry from the stat line that Pettersson and Rutta have produced while together.
In just over 150 minutes of hockey while paired together this season, Pittsburgh is expected to score over three goals more than it would allow.
The real on-ice results have differed at times, including a five-game stretch right around the New Year when the Penguins scored two goals and let up seven while deploying the Pettersson-Rutta pairing.
Still, the advanced metrics generally favor Pettersson and Rutta, as do they prefer Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel.
Perhaps no pairing has been as productive over the last month as the usual third group of Joseph and Ruhwedel, which has alleviated the loss of Rutta.
A nine-game stretch from mid- January until this Saturday shows the Penguins have scored twice as many goals as they have permitted with Joseph and Ruhwedel skating.
This figure is no doubt aided by Joseph’s sensational two-goal outing in the 6-3 win against the Ducks. Either way, the two have unquestionably found some chemistry.
“He’s a good guy to play with. He’s working hard. He’s got a good offensive mindset to him, and the more familiarity you get with a person, you just start playing better with them,” Ruhwedel said of Joseph. “I think he’s done a lot this year and it’s fun playing with him.”
Ruhwedel is quick to point out Joseph doesn’t “sell the farm or just go on offense,” but the two seem to complement one another quite well in a manner that calls to mind how Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin play off each other.
And yet, Sullivan elected to break up that pairing against the Kings and instead placed Mark Friedman alongside Joseph while scratching Ruhwedel.
The 10 minutes and change those two shared the ice wasn’t particularly pretty (nor was much of the action for the Penguins on Saturday night) as Pittsburgh gave up two scores.
Sullivan’s mixing and matching of defensemen has been a theme over the last few months and it would be an understatement to say that the results have varied.
But if Rutta’s return is indeed around the corner, the Penguins are nearing having their full slate of defensemen available for the first time in two months.
The Penguins have weathered many a storm this season, from Letang suffering another stroke to Petry’s wrist injury.
Rutta’s latest appearances during team workouts give players like Ruhwedel hope that Pittsburgh will soon have its entire crew back for the last couple months of the regular season.
“It has been a long time with a variety of injuries and it’s good to have Jan back on the ice with the team, skating with us. It’s just good to see,” Ruhwedel said. “All these guys injured, it’s a grind to get back to playing shape and it’s just good to have them back.”