OTTAWA, Ontario — In Game 3 earlier this week, the Penguins dressed seven defenseman for just the second time this season.
Fast forward two nights to Game 4, and they had to play most of the night with only five players on the blue line.
Chad Ruhwedel left the Penguins’ 3-2 win Friday night with 26 seconds left in the first period and did not return. Coach Mike Sullivan said after the game that Ruhwedel has been diagnosed with a concussion, and will be evaluated when the team returns to Pittsburgh.
In his absence, the remaining five defensemen stepped up and made sure the Penguins closed out the win to even the series at two games apiece.
“We go to five defensemen as early as we did in the game once again, and the five guys just, you know, they find ways to continue to be competitive and help us win,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.
Four of the five defenseman saw ice time above their playoff average. Ron Hainsey was the lone exception, and he came just two seconds short.
The Penguins rotated through who played with Ian Cole, Ruhwedel’s partner in the lineup. Brian Dumoulin assumed most of the responsibility, but every picked up at least some slack.
“Any time a D man goes down, it seems like we come together,” Dumoulin said. “It seems like our forwards make that extra effort to come back and get the line, make it easier for us to change. It’s never easy playing with 5 D, but we’ve done it before. I think we did a good job keeping our shifts short, just trying to get pucks out and keeping the game simple.”
That effort didn’t go unnoticed by the forwards, either.
“I think we just kept coming at them, and our D did a good job moving the puck,” winger Carl Hagelin said. “I think they were mobile throughout the whole game. They were finding lanes so we could pass it up to them, and then obviously Olli [Maatta] and Dumo score big goals. That’s what we’re going to need from them.”
Given their run of injuries over the second half of the season, this was hardly the first time the Penguins have had to finish down a defenseman. It’s not ideal — especially in the midst of a long, grueling playoff run — but they don’t really have much choice when it happens.
“It’s obviously unfortunate, but at the same time, I think everybody knows how to play with everybody,” Maatta said. “It’s not a huge difference. We practice that way, so it doesn’t really matter. We talk a lot as a D group. That’s a big thing, just talk a lot out there so we’re on the same page.”
The question now will be what the Penguins’ blue line looks like for Game 5 Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena, as it seems very unlikely Ruhwedel will be able to play just two days after being diagnosed with a concussion.
The simplest solution would be if Justin Schultz — who has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury — is ready to return, which would allow the Penguins to go back to their original playoff pairings.
Schultz skated on his own Friday morning, but has not rejoined the team for practice yet. Until he does so, it’s probably too early to start speculating about a return.
If Schultz can’t go, that would mean Mark Streit goes back in the lineup after dressing as the seventh defenseman in Game 3. Like most of the Penguins in that loss, Streit had a bit of an up and down game. He looked comfortable offensively, but got beat badly on one of the Senators’ first period goals.
However, he was acquired at the trade deadline by Jim Rutherford to provide some defensive depth, and that’s exactly what he may have to do Sunday afternoon.
Sam Werner: swerner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SWernerPG
First Published: May 20, 2017, 4:51 a.m.
