Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson a rare healthy scratch
Defenseman Marcus Pettersson experienced a first in his Penguins career on Sunday.
A healthy scratch.
The veteran defenseman did not play in the Penguins’ 4-2 home win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. He was replaced on the left side of the second pairing by Brian Dumoulin.
In the context of the overall lineup, he was replaced by reserve defenseman Mark Friedman, who remained in the lineup on the third pairing.
Appearing in his seventh consecutive game (after being a healthy scratch for the previous 19 contests), Friedman logged 14 minutes, 33 seconds of ice time on 20 shifts and had one shot on two attempts. Part of his effort included drawing two penalties that led to power-play opportunities during the first period.
For Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, Friedman earned a spot in the lineup at Pettersson’s expense.
“We have seven defensemen here (and) we can only put six in the lineup,” Sullivan said. “(Friedman) played a couple of real solid games and was deserving of staying in the lineup. There’s a healthy competition amongst our group at all the positions, but in that position in particular, I thought (Friedman) deserved to play based on performance. These are difficult decisions. They’re not easy. Marcus has played a lot of good hockey for us as well. We’ll make decisions game to game, and we’ll try to put the best six in the lineup that gives us the best chance to win.”
Acquired via trade in December of 2018, Pettersson had missed only 15 regular-season games out of a possible 243, all because of medical concerns, before Sunday.
Dumoulin, who missed Friday’s 5-2 home win against the Vegas Golden Knights because of an illness not related to covid-19, was paired with John Marino. Meanwhile, Kris Letang, Dumoulin’s usual partner for the past half-decade, skated with Mike Matheson on the top duo.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Dumoulin and Marino logged 14:10 of common five-on-five ice time and were on the ice for seven shot attempts for versus 18 shot attempts against.
“They were fine,” Sullivan said. “They’re two good players. They’re mobile guys. They defend hard. They’ve got long reaches. They were fine during the game.”
Penguins forward Dominik Simon was also a healthy scratch on Sunday.
Kapanen returns
With forward Brock McGinn scratched because of a suspected right hand or arm injury, forward Kasperi Kapanen returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch Friday.
Primarily deployed on the third line with Jeff Carter at center and Radim Zohorna at left wing, Kapanen logged 10:40 of ice time on 18 shifts and recorded two shots. Kapanen also clocked 2:24 of ice time with the second power-play unit.
Sullivan offered a supportive assessment of Kapanen’s contribution.
“(Kapanen) played hard,” Sullivan said. “He had a couple of good opportunities. He had two two-on-one chances. He can really shoot the puck. If he gets those types of looks, we think he’s going to score goals. He was trying to use his speed. He was trying to defend hard. He was trying to make a concerted effort at some of the little things that we’ve asked him to do — plays along the wall, breaking out of our end zone, things of that nature — that just helps us become more difficult to play against. He responded pretty well.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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