Shortly after the Penguins traded Tanner Pearson to Vancouver for Erik Gudbranson minutes before the NHL trade deadline on Feb. 25, many on social media wondered whether general manager Jim Rutherford had lost his mind.
Others weren’t nearly so kind.
Four games into his Penguins career — admittedly a small sample size — the doomsday scenario many predicted has yet to happen. In fact, Gudbranson has produced some rather solid numbers, the same sort of stuff he was skewered for in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Gudbranson has provided the rough-and-tumble presence the suddenly simple Penguins needed on the back end.
“I’m just trying to play my game, Gudbranson said after finishing a postgame workout late Thursday. “So far, so good.”
It would be hard for the Penguins to complain about what they’ve gotten thus far from Gudbranson, and they’re certainly not going to. Consider:
• Only Justin Schultz (plus-4) has produced a better plus/minus rating than Gudbranson’s plus-3 among Penguins defensemen since the trade.
• Furthermore, Gudbranson has been on the ice for just one five-on-five goal-against in four games.
• His Corsi For Percentage — a measure of five-on-five shot attempts — is 55.7, which ranks second-best among Penguins defensemen, while he and Marcus Pettersson are controlling scoring chances at better than a 60-percent clip.
Not bad for a guy who was among the worst or the worst in the league in those categories, including an NHL-low minus-27 at the time of the trade.
After averaging just 17:59 in Vancouver, Gudbranson has not played less than 19:27 in Pittsburgh. On Thursday, in a 3-0 victory over Columbus, Gudbranson saw 20:30, including 2:14 on a penalty-killing unit that went three for three and snuffed out a high-sticking minor on Patric Hornqvist in the third period.
Gudbranson, who’s every bit of 6-foot-5, has been making his presence felt with physical plays along the boards and has handled the puck well enough to warrant the additional ice time.
“Obviously I like it,” Gudbranson said of playing more in Pittsburgh. “Didn’t really have any expectations in terms of minutes when I came here. Never have anywhere I’ve been.
“We have some injuries as well. We need some guys to come back. For now, I’m just happy to chip in.”
Another Sullivan tweak
Much was made of Penguins coach Mike Sullivan starting Evgeni Malkin’s line — and Phil Kessel — instead of Sidney Crosby and Co. to try to get Kessel going.
Another coaching move made, this time in the second period, paid dividends as well.
Sullivan flipped Jared McCann and Dominik Simon on his first and third lines, in the process having Jake Guentzel move back to left wing.
Nick Bjugstad, McCann’s new/old center, scored after an extended shift for that line, which seemed to take off immediately.
“It was good for both lines,” Sullivan said.
It sounds like Sullivan might try to do something similar if previous games go a certain way; perhaps one opponent requires more speed (McCann) or a give-and-go game (Simon) might work better against another.
Either way, the Penguins have a couple options.
“The way our coaching staff has looked at it is we tend to go in tandems with our lines,” Sullivan said. “Then we move people around them based on how guys are playing or what our opponent looks like, what the matchups look like on a given night. We try to complement those tandems as best we can.”
Torts not happy
Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella didn’t agree with the league when it determined that Patric Hornqvist did not interfere with Joonas Korpisalo on Kessel’s first-period goal.
“I do think it’s goaltender interference,” Tortorella said. “The first shove by Hornqvist turns Korpisalo, to where he can’t get to the side of the net. But you never know what you’re going to get with those calls. I just totally don’t understand the definition of it all.”
Tortorella said he thought about challenging the Penguins’ second goal but chose not to because they couldn’t see the puck on replay.
Numbers and nuggets
• With an assist on Kessel’s goal, Malkin is now three points shy of 1,000 for his career.
• The Penguins are now 9-1 in their third jerseys.
• Matt Murray picked up his fourth shutout of the season and improved to 8-1-1 in his career against the Blue Jackets.
• Thursday was just the 11th time in 27 games the Penguins have won this season when they have more shots on goal than their opponent.
• The Penguins power play has five goals in its last four games. It had six in its previous 16.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: March 8, 2019, 5:02 a.m.
