New Penguins defenseman Spencer Statsney, acquired from Edmonton in exchange for Filip Hallander, joined the team for morning skate. But he will not play tonight, as the Penguins want to give Stastney time to get acclimated.
“There’s a lot of hockey to be played, a lot of games coming up,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “In terms of the day one, it’s his first time meeting some of the coaches, his first time meeting some of the players, most of the players. So, it’s a new group.
“He’ll just be watching from up top. Gave him a couple of things to look for that might be a little bit different, but you don’t want to overwhelm anybody with too much, too soon. I think you want to get your feet underneath you… that’s the priority right now.”
Statsney skated on the extra defense pairing with Ilya Solovyov. Here are the combinations Pittsburgh used:
Rakell-Crosby-Rust
Chinakhov-Novak-Malkin
Lapierre-Kindel-Koivunen
Dewar-Lizotte-Robertson
(Soderblom, Kuzmenko)
Carlile-Karlsson
Girard-Korczak
van Riemsdyk-Letang
(Stastney, Solovyov)
The biggest adjustment was Rust moving back to the top line alongside Crosby and Rakell, his longtime linemates and teammates.
After being sidelined due to injury, Rust made his season debut in Wednesday’s game, starting it alongside Kindel and Koivunen. They scored a goal on their first shift together. But as the game went on, the coaching staff went back to the tried-and-true trio. Here’s Muse on his thought process there:
“I didn’t think we, as a team, were playing at our best. Things got shuffled a little bit there, and with that line going back together, I thought that we started to put together some shifts – not just that those three, but then the lines afterwards. So, with that, we were building some momentum. Stayed with it, and I thought we played better from that point on. And so, we’re going to go back with that. Obviously, there’s some familiarity with those guys, a lot of familiarity. I also think that the other lines that did get moved around a little bit, which would have been Kindel’s line, they played well together, also. So, that’s the thought process, and go from there.”
The Penguins also adjusted their power-play units, with Malkin moving to the first one.
PP1) Karlsson, Crosby, Malkin, Rakell, Kindel
PP2) Letang, Novak, Chinakhov, Rust, Lapierre/Koivunen
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