Jeff Petry has found his game and was playing in a number of different situations for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have an important stretch of games ahead of them as five of their next nine will come against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Over the last week or so, the Metro has turned into a dog fight for standings possessions and so far the Penguins have held their own.
Looking like one of the best teams in the NHL right now, they are 8-1-1 in their last 10 and look to continue that run.
The Penguins will have to play a short handed, however, with defenseman Jeff Petry being moved to long term injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
It was a slow start, but Petry has found his game recently and played multiple important roles throughout the year.
Through 28 games, Petry has tied for the team lead in defensive scoring with 12 points (3G-9A) including four points on a power play that struggled for a large portion of the season.
It’s been under 30 games with the Penguins, but Petry has already had to wear multiple different hats; he’s played on the top defensive pair in the absence of Kris Letang and has anchored the top defensive unit.
Tack on being stout defensively, the Penguins are going to miss an important piece of their defensive core until after the Winter Classic.
Without Petry, the rest of the Penguins defensive core will have to fill the hole left open.
“When a player of that stature goes down it’s incumbent upon the group to fill in,” Mike Sullivan said. “Jeff’s a real good player for us, plays in a lot of situations. It’s going to be more by committee.”
Thankfully, the Penguins have Letang back in the lineup to eat the lion share of minutes like normal, but everyone else will have to hit another stride.
P.O. Joseph has taken fantastic leaps this season in both skill and confidence and was finally rewarded with his first goal of the season.
“It’s going to provide opportunities for others, like P.O. to play a more significant role,” Sullivan said. “We believe we have capable people.”
Marcus Pettersson has turned into a revelation as a new first line defender, and Jan Rutta is turning out to be a great signing.
The recent play of Petry gave the Penguins a boost on the blue line, and now it’ll take the whole group to step up and fill the void.
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