Penguins Notebook: Letestu returns to lineup after knee surgery
-
Penguins forward Mark Letestu shoots during warmups before Saturday's game against the Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Share with others:
TORONTO -- Jordan Staal was back between James Neal and Alex Kovalev on the Penguins' No. 1 line when they faced Toronto Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre. That doesn't necessarily mean he'll remain there indefinitely.
With Mark Letestu -- who played against the Maple Leafs after being out since Feb. 1 because of a knee injury that had to be surgically repaired -- back in the personnel mix, along with Dustin Jeffrey, who returned Friday after missing six games because of an unspecified injury, coach Dan Bylsma will have options for that role.
Staal has done his best work the past couple of years while playing on a blue-collar line with Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy. He does a lot of things quite well, but playmaking is not prominent on that list.
Letestu might be a particularly attractive candidate for Staal's spot on the top line because he is a right-handed shot, which should make it easier for him to get the puck to Neal. Kovalev, conversely, manages to gain control of the puck quite often, whether a linemate feeds it to him or not.
Bylsma acknowledged last evening that he had considered, at least briefly, playing Letestu with Neal and Kovalev, but said he dismissed the idea because of the possibility that Letestu could be "tentative" in his first game back and because he did not want to give him an excessive workload.
"Will I think about it again as Mark gets his feet under him?" Bylsma said. "Yes."
The Penguins are convinced that Neal will be a difference-maker for them, that he will be a productive power forward for a lot of years.
And Neal, acquired Monday from Dallas, seems pretty enthused about the club he has joined. Enough that he appears to be willing to overlook the way the Penguins' offense has been hamstrung lately by significant injuries to top-six forwards such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz.
"It's exciting to come to a team with the firepower it has," he said.
First Published February 27, 2011 12:00 am
