OTTAWA, Ontario — Especially given the way the first 13 minutes played out, it might have been tough to tell the Penguins had an extra defenseman in the lineup Wednesday night, but they did.
Mike Sullivan opted to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen in the Penguins’ 5-1 Game 3 loss to Ottawa. It marked just the second time the Penguins have used this configuration, and the first time they’ve done so intentionally. The only other time was their 3-0 win in Vancouver March 11, and that was because Carl Hagelin went down with an injury the night before and they physically couldn’t get another forward to Vancouver in time.
Wednesday night, they inserted Mark Streit to the lineup as an extra defenseman, primarily for his effectiveness at quarterbacking the top power-play unit.
The result was a little bit of a mixed bag. Five-on-five, Streit spend most of his time with either Ian Cole or Chad Ruhwedel, usually alternating between the two.
He had the least even-strength time of any defenseman (9:37), and looked pretty lost on the Senators’ third goal of the game from Derick Brassard. He doesn’t quite seem to know where he’s supposed to be, fails to clear the puck and then gets back only with a late stick check as Brassard scores.
But, if that’s the bad, there was some good to adding Streit to the lineup (which may be tough to see in a 5-1 loss, admittedly).
He was pretty effective in what his main purpose was out there tonight, which was playing the point with the top power play unit. He assisted on the lone Penguins’ goal of the night, which came with the man advantage, and generally looked comfortable facilitating a unit that has no shortage of finishing talent (which isn’t always a given).
So, what’s the plan moving forward?
“I don't think we're a coaching staff that believes we're going to play seven defensemen, eleven forwards every night,” Sullivan said. “We did it for specific reasons. We'll evaluate our team moving forward and make decisions accordingly.”
Part of those specific reasons may have included some sort of insurance policy in case Trevor Daley wasn’t 100 percent ready to go in his first game back from injury. But Daley played 15:32 Wednesday night and looked OK out there (at least, as OK as any of the Penguins looked tonight).
There was also the issue of getting the power play going, which is a bit more unsettled. If Streit doesn’t dress, the Penguins have an open hole at the top of their power play that isn’t necessarily easy to fill.
It’d be a bit surprising to see them go back to seven defensemen in Game 4 Friday, if nothing else because Game 3 was such a disaster on all fronts that seems like a pretty easy shakeup. But that would leave Olli Maatta likely on the first power play, which isn’t really an ideal solution.
The best-case scenario would be that Justin Schultz is available for Game 4, which could happen. He skated in full gear before the team’s morning skate Wednesday, and seemed to be testing out whether or not he could practice with the group. If Schultz returns, that would allow the Penguins to go back to the defensive lineup they had at the start of the playoffs, and Schultz back to quarterbacking the top power play.
Of course, that alone won’t solve the issues that plagued them Wednesday night, but it would at least likely give them the best chance to move forward.
Sam Werner: swerner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SWernerPG
First Published: May 18, 2017, 4:51 a.m.
