But it's not just the forwards who are depleted.

Transcription

1 Daily Clips 12/9/14 Absences on blue line evident in Penguins' OT loss to Rangers By Jason Mackey - Tribune- Review NEW YORK It's no secret that the Penguins' forwards have been banged up, the top six lacking Chris Kunitz, Patric Hornqvist and Pascal Dupuis. But it's not just the forwards who are depleted. The Penguins were missing two of their top four defensemen Monday against the New York Rangers, and it showed during a 4-3 overtime loss at Madison Square Garden. That's part of a long season, defenseman Christian Ehrhoff said. You're going to go through phases where you face adversity and some injuries. We're going through that right now. The Penguins ( ) did, however, get goals from Steve Downie and Evgeni Malkin in a 24- second stretch to rally late and steal a point from the Rangers ( ). Second- year defenseman Brian Dumoulin, recalled last Tuesday, struggled at times and was on the ice for the Rangers' first three goals. The first saw Dumoulin fail to apply pressure to Martin St. Louis, who eventually threaded a pass to Coraopolis native J.T. Miller in the slot. Miller notched his second goal of the season. Later in the second, a Mats Zuccarello dump- in kicked off Dumoulin's skate as he lost track of the puck in his own zone. Rangers forward Rick Nash gained possession and stuffed a shot between Marc- Andre Fleury's left skate and the post for the Rangers' second goal. Kevin Hayes scored the Rangers' third goal midway through the third when he picked off an ill- advised centering feed from Dumoulin. There are a couple plays I'd like to have back, Dumoulin said. There are a couple defensemen the Penguins would like to have back: Olli Maatta and Kris Letang.

2 Maatta was an unexpected scratch and didn't make the trip to have an undisclosed injury suffered last Saturday re- evaluated. Maatta, who was guilty of a turnover in his own zone that led to Vancouver's first goal last Thursday, seemingly had steadied himself following a rough return from thyroid surgery. Letang skated for the second time in three days Monday, but his return will come no sooner than the weekend. The power play is 1 for 13 without Letang, one of the NHL's best offensive defensemen. Dumoulin played with Paul Martin, who's a decade older, Monday. Ehrhoff, who might possess the group's most powerful and accurate shot, was next to Robert Bortuzzo, a physical, defensive defenseman fresh off a two- game suspension. The performance was uneven. Certainly with the pairs, there's a little bit of a learning curve when you're trying to play with a new partner, Penguins coach Mike Johnston said. You're trying to read off of him under heavy forechecking pressure. Nick Spaling gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead with his first goal in nine games at 12:35 of the first period when he hammered a shot past Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist from the left circle. The line of Spaling, captain Sidney Crosby and Downie produced five points. Brandon Sutter, Malkin and Blake Comeau also were solid, tallying nine of the Penguins' 35 shots. It's the first time the Penguins hit the 35- shot mark since Nov. 15. Downie whacked a loose puck in the slot past Lundqvist, and Malkin parlayed a fantastic individual effort from Sutter into his ninth goal in 12 games, tying the game at 3 late. Still, it was not enough. Kevin Klein got the game- winner through a screen at 3:45 of overtime. There's a little bit of adversity we have going right now, but guys are doing a good job stepping in, Downie said. We're battling for points. We're doing all we can right now.

3 Penguins notebook: Maatta doesn't travel with team to New York By Jason Mackey - Tribune- Review NEW YORK Defenseman Olli Maatta is having an injury from the Senators game last Saturday re- evaluated and did not travel with the Penguins to New York for Monday's game against the Rangers. (The Penguins' medical staff) didn't feel like he could play tonight, so they kept him back home, coach Mike Johnston said. What caused the injury is not known. Maatta played a team- high 24 minutes, 3 seconds against Ottawa, including 3:52 on the power play and 2:35 short- handed. Maatta, who missed six games earlier this year because he had a cancerous tumor removed from his thyroid, attempted four shots, put three on goal, didn't turn the puck over and blocked a shot. Johnston said the injury was not related to Maatta's thyroid surgery. Waiting on Hornqvist, Bennett Johnston said the team is still awaiting concussion- test results on forward Patric Hornqvist, who left last Thursday's 3-0 loss to the Canucks in the second period after absorbing a hit from Ryan Stanton. Johnston said he expects to have an update on Hornqvist on Tuesday. As for forward Beau Bennett, he suffered a lower- body injury Nov. 24 at Boston, and Johnston said two days later he'd miss a couple weeks. Monday marked two weeks from the date of injury. Johnston said Bennett hasn't suffered a setback. He probably won't be on the ice, I wouldn't think, until next week, Johnston said.

4 Letang skates Defenseman Kris Letang was a partial participant in Monday's gameday skate. He did not work with a defense partner during line rushes but remained on the ice for 25 minutes after his teammates left to get extra work. It's nice to see him out there on the ice, Johnston said. He'll progress (Tuesday), probably into more of a full practice, but we'll keep him out of hitting drills. The steps are in place to lead him back to playing. Bortuzzo is back Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo returned from a two- game suspension and played on a defense pairing with Christian Ehrhoff, taking Maatta's regular spot. You don't want to be up there watching hockey games; you want to be contributing, Bortuzzo said. It was tough to sit for those two, but it will be good to get back in there now. No penalty, Sill says Forward Zach Sill did not agree with the game misconduct he got for his hit Saturday on Ottawa forward Kyle Turris. Officials told captain Sidney Crosby the cause for ejection was the hit came too late. I didn't think that I deserved a penalty there, but that happens all the time in hockey you don't agree with the referees, Sill said. It (stinks) that I had to miss the rest of the game. Solid signing The Rangers signed Christopher Falzone, a 15- year- old from Atlantic Highlands, N.J., to a one- day contract as part of the Make- A- Wish Foundation. Falzone had non- Hodgkin Mature B Cell Lymphoma, a form of bone cancer, and underwent chemo and physical therapy. Falzone practiced with the Rangers on Thursday, then joined them Monday for warmups.

5 Penguins fall in OT to Rangers, 4-3 By Dave Molinari/Pittsburgh Post- Gazette NEW YORK The Penguins earned one point for their 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers Monday night at Madison Square Garden. That point is significant it moved them past the New York Islanders and into sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division but the Penguins took a lot more than that out of this game. They not only competed on even terms with the Rangers despite having a severely depleted lineup, but forced overtime by scoring twice in a 24- second span with less than five minutes left in regulation. For a team missing no fewer than three of the wingers from its top two lines, that kind of offensive outburst is impressive. The way we played, we really contained them, especially the second half [of the game], center Brandon Sutter said. We were pretty dominant out there for a lot of it. We got back in it. You get to overtime, and it s a game. It just didn t go our way. Rangers defenseman Kevin Klein scored the winner at 3:45 of overtime when his slap shot eluded goalie Marc- Andre Fleury. At least one replay suggested New York center Dominic Moore deflected Klein s shot, but the goal was credited to Klein. I was just trying to get it by, Klein said. There were a lot of bodies and I was just trying to put it [on the] far side. The Penguins, understandably, didn t care much who got credit for the goal. They were mostly disappointed their strong late- game play didn t get them a second point. We were buzzing all period, right winger Steve Downie said. I think we controlled the pace in the third. We got the bounces we deserved, I thought. Rangers center Kevin Hayes appeared to put the game out of reach at 12:58 of the third period, when he exploited a turnover by Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin who had a game he surely would prefer to forget to give New York a 3-1 lead. With so many of their high- scoring forwards unavailable because of injuries, the Penguins seemed unlikely to close that gap. Turned out, they needed less than a half- minute to do it. That s why they are a good team, Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. They take advantage of mistakes. At 15:17, Evgeni Malkin converted a Sutter feed from the front lip of the crease to make it 3-2, and Downie beat Lundqvist from above the right hash at 15:41 to tie it. That was nice, Fleury said. We kept coming at them. We played a solid third period and gave ourselves a chance to get back into the game.

6 New York took its lead by capitalizing on mental and execution errors by the Penguins, such as a Paul Martin turnover that led to J.T. Miller s goal, or Dumoulin s ill- conceived attempt to stop a Mats Zuccarello pass with his skate that made a Rick Nash goal possible. Unfortunately, we made one too many [mistakes], Sutter said. But that s part of the game, and you have to live with it. True, but the Penguins still found a way to make sure they left the building with more than sweaty equipment. It was nice to see we had that kind of push, coach Mike Johnston said. They got it from guys such as Nick Spaling, who had a goal and an assist, and Downie, who got the third goal. Neither was satisfied with the outcome, but both acknowledged the resilience that salvaged a point. At the end of the night, we still want two points, Spaling said. But that was a good job battling back. Penguins notebook: Injury list gets longer and longer By Dave Molinari / Pittsburgh Post- Gazette NEW YORK This still isn t as bad as last season, when the Penguins lost an average of nearly 6½ man- games to injury every time they played. It s not all that far from it, though. Defenseman Olli Maatta sat out the game against the New York Rangers Monday night at Madison Square Garden because of an undisclosed injury in their 3-2 victory against Ottawa Saturday. A half- dozen of his teammates missed the Rangers game because of medical issues, as well. When the Penguins will get any of them back remains to be seen. Here is the latest information from the infirmary, courtesy of coach Mike Johnston: Defenseman Kris Letang (groin) sat out his fifth game in a row, but participated in the game- day skate. He will be involved in practice today, but will be held out of contact drills. Right winger Patric Hornqvist missed his second consecutive game because of an unspecified injury. He still was undergoing tests Monday, but Johnston expects to have a full update on his status today. Winger Beau Bennett, who hasn t played since Nov. 24 because of an apparent right knee injury, is not expected to resume skating until next week.

7 Left winger Chris Kunitz missed his fifth game because of a broken foot. Winger Scott Wilson (leg) sat out his third consecutive game. Right winger Pascal Dupuis (blood clots) is expected to be out until at least spring. Losing so many top- six wingers has forced Johnston to radically reconfigure his forward combinations. The biggest challenge has been to have a line or two that s been together, he said. It s not like we can fall back on one line, say, Well, this line has played together for the past two years. We don t have any line that s played together. Bortuzzo back in action Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo returned to the lineup after serving a two- game suspension for a late hit on New Jersey right winger Jaromir Jagr a week ago. Physicality is a key element of Bortuzzo s game, and he said he doesn t want to let the suspension affect his willingness to play the body. I ve never been in a situation like this, Bortuzzo said. I m mostly telling myself to go out and play my game. Maatta s absence opened a spot for Bortuzzo, who clearly was eager to get back to work. It was just two games, he said. But it felt like a long time. Sill off the hook Left winger Zach Sill was not fined or suspended by the league office for his crushing hit Saturday on Ottawa s Kyle Turris. And he is among those unclear why that check got him thrown out the game, although he did not make an issue of it at the time. I didn t agree with the call on the ice, but I hadn t seen it, so I didn t know if maybe a part of my body had hit him in the head, Sill said. Actually, the on- ice officials apparently felt Sill s check was late, and he was assessed an interference major, a game misconduct and a fighting major for a scuffle after the hit. Should the opportunity for a similar hit come along, Sill isn t likely to let it pass. I saw a chance for a nice open- ice hit, so I took it, he said. I didn t go searching for a big hit, but it was right there in front of me. I m going to take that hit, probably nine times out of 10. Penguins' Crosby stuck in scoring rut By Dan Rosen - NHL.com Senior Writer NEW YORK - - Sidney Crosby is in a scoring slump.

8 Those are seven words you don't write, read, say or hear together very often. But it's true. Crosby has no goals in seven consecutive games and in 17 of the past 19. He has two goals since opening the season with seven in his first eight games. If you take it back to last season, Crosby has 10 goals in his past 44 games, including one in 13 games in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Granted it's not all bad. Crosby has 19 assists in the past 19 games, he's tied for the League lead with 35 points, and the Pittsburgh Penguins lead the Metropolitan Division with 39 points. But make no mistake, the lack of goal production bothers Crosby. "You still want to score," he said. "You look at the chances. It's more frustrating when the chances aren't there, and there have been times where the chances haven't been there. That's frustrating. When you're getting them, you believe and you trust that they're going to go in." Crosby said he feels he has been getting better chances of late. He had four shots on goal in a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, then two shots and five attempts in a 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Monday. "I feel like if I get those opportunities every night, they're going to go in," Crosby said, "but maybe I can put the odd empty- netter once in a while when I get the opportunity." Crosby joking about padding his stats - - six more words you don't write, read, say or hear together very often. Klein scores in overtime, Rangers defeat Penguins Dan Rosen - NHL.com Senior Writer NEW YORK - - The New York Rangers performance Monday against the Pittsburgh Penguins was a microcosm of their season. "Up and down," Rangers defenseman Marc Staal said. "Yeah." The Rangers, plagued by their inconsistent ways, gave away a two- goal lead for the

9 second consecutive game, but rallied to beat the Penguins 4-3 in overtime on Kevin Klein's second overtime goal of the season. Klein scored 3:45 into overtime on a slap shot through traffic from a few steps inside the blue line. He also scored in overtime against the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 21. Klein has a career- high six goals this season, including three game- winners. Forwards J.T. Miller, Rick Nash and Kevin Hayes also scored for the Rangers. Pittsburgh forwards Evgeni Malkin and Steve Downie scored 24 seconds apart late in the third period to force overtime. "I'm getting a lot of heat because I'm not using him on the power play," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said jokingly of Klein. "I'm taking a lot of heat from inside the dressing room. No, you know what, [Klein] has done a good job of finding the open lane, finding the open spot. That's the second time he's come up real big for us in overtime. Good for him." Klein didn't miss a shift after getting struck in the left ear by Penguins forward Zach Sill's high stick late in the first period. Klein, who was bloodied, said he received at least a dozen stitches to repair the damage to his ear. "I don't know if anybody saw his ear there, but he lost a piece of it and they sewed it back," Vigneault said. "Say what you want about hockey players, but they're tough [guys]." The Penguins toughed it out themselves to get a point despite playing without four of their top- six forwards (Chris Kunitz, Patric Hornqvist, Beau Bennett and Pascal Dupuis) and two of their top- four defenseman (Kris Letang and Olli Maatta). Malkin scored from the slot off a feed from Brandon Sutter at 15:17 of the third period and Downie scored later to tie the game. Staal swung and missed in an attempt to clear the bouncing puck out of the high slot before it came to Downie, who beat New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist with a slap shot from the right hash marks. "I think we were buzzing all [third] period," Downie said. "We came out and I think we controlled the pace of the third and we got the bounces we deserved. We played well and I thought it was a good comeback." It was a tough night for Penguins rookie defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who was on the ice for three goals and had giveaways that directly led to goals by Nash and Hayes that put the Rangers up 2-1 and 3-1, respectively.

10 Dumoulin was in the lineup because Maatta was in Pittsburgh getting an undisclosed injury re- evaluated. Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo returned to the Penguins lineup after serving a two- game suspension. "Certainly with the [defense] pairs there is a little bit of a learning curve there when you're trying to play with a new partner and you're trying to read off him under heavy forechecking pressure, Penguins coach Mike Johnston said. "But I thought we escaped our zone pretty well for having all new pairs except for [Rob] Scuderi and [Simon] Despres." The Rangers gave away a two- goal lead Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings before losing 3-2 in regulation. They felt they let the Penguins back into the game Monday by sitting back too much after Hayes scored at 12:58 of the third period to put them up by two goals. "That's not the way we want to play in the third," Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi said. "I think we were giving them too much room. We kind of changed our style of play. We sat back instead of playing like we did in the first and second, in their face. We backed up, gave them room, and you give guys like that room they're going to make plays. It's a couple tough ones, but we didn't really get discouraged. It's big for us to get that win after giving up two, giving up the lead." Klein echoed Girardi, saying the Rangers remained upbeat on the bench after Downie scored. "Our bench just turned to each other and said, 'Let's keep going,' and we did," Klein said. "We were battling." The Rangers have been battling to stay above water all season. They beat the Penguins 5-0 at the Garden on Nov. 11, but followed that up with a record before Pittsburgh returned to New York on Monday. New York won four of five games during that stretch, including shutout wins against the Montreal Canadiens (5-0) and the Philadelphia Flyers (2-0 and 3-0), but they also lost three times to the Tampa Bay Lightning and blew the lead in Detroit. The Rangers gave away a third- period lead against the Colorado Avalanche before losing in a shootout on Nov. 13. They had a 2-1 lead after the first period against the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Nov. 15 and lost that one 3-2 in a shootout. "The last few weeks the way we want to play has been more consistent, we've been in a

11 lot more games and been able to win a few, but there are stretches of games where we have a breakdown and it ends up costing us," Staal said. "That's happened to us all year long. You're never going to play a perfect game and teams are good, they're going to make their chances, but we have to learn to win games. We won [Monday night], which is a big step. Good teams find a way to win and we've got to continue to try to do that." The Rangers won't have another chance to prove it until Saturday, when they start a four- game road trip against the Vancouver Canucks. "I think the guys should be feeling better about themselves," Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said. "Ultimately it's an ugly two points, but those are sometimes the ones that are most important down the stretch." 3 Impressions: Rangers 4, Penguins 3 (OT) Pittsburgh Penguins penguins.nhl.com FROM THE BENCH Assistant Coach Gary Agnew gives his 3 impressions from the bench. 1. Comeback First of all, the comeback. We re down two late on the road, the guys stuck with it, we pressured. They sat back a little bit, but I thought our resilience was really good to get back into it and at least get a tie and into the overtime period. 2. Second Line I thought the line of Malkin, Sutter and Comeau was really good. They were dangerous all night. They had some good energy. I thought Sutter in particular made some good things happen, took pucks to the net. 3. Penalty Kill Then the double minor that we killed, the four- minute penalty kill was really good. You can get knocked out of a game early, especially on the road, when the fans get behind them like that. But I thought we quieted them down and got it going. FROM THE PRESS BOX Michelle Crechiolo gives her 3 impressions from the press box. 1. No Quit What an impressive finish and incredible show of resiliency by these depleted Pens, who were without Patric Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz, Kris Letang, Olli Maatta Pascal Dupuis and Beau Bennett in this game. Though the Pens were dominating in the third, it seemed like the game was all but over when the Rangers took a 3-1 lead with 7:02 left in regulation. It s never easy to come back from a two- goal deficit, especially on the road, that late in a game. But the Pens managed to score twice in a 24- second span to even the score, force overtime and come away with a huge extra point in a divisional

12 matchup. 2. Top Line I liked the way the Spaling- Crosby- Downie line played in this game. Spaling and Downie both finished with two points (1G- 1A), and both of their goals came because they weren t hesitant to just rip the puck on net. Meanwhile, Crosby was flying all over the ice. Downie especially did a great job of getting Crosby the puck with short little dishes as he was coming up the ice at full speed. That allowed Crosby to gain the zone and jumpstart a few good offensive zone shifts. They were matched up with New York s top shutdown pair of Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi for most of the game, but still managed to pot two huge goals. 3. Flower Power Marc- Andre Fleury was terrific tonight. He certainly did his part to keep the Penguins in this game. He just looked like he was seeing the puck so well, as he was in perfect position to calmly glove or turn aside most of the shots he saw. And he was still stopping the ones he didn t, as Fleury had to come up with a few pad saves through traffic especially early in the game on shots he was screened on. Fleury deserved a better result than the one he got, as there wasn t a lot he could do on any of the Rangers goals especially the first three, which came as the result of bad breakdowns in coverage. The Pens can t leave their goalie hanging out to dry like that.