Penguins leaning on rookie P.O Joseph in crucial moments

You can illustrate how dismal of a situation the Pittsburgh Penguins have on defense by simply pointing out they have six defensemen sidelined by injury.

But you can paint a much more vivid picture by noting one of their options during a 5-4 overtime road win against the Rangers on Saturday was a guy who had to drive from Nashville to Manhattan to suit up for the team.

Such was the case for Yannick Weber, an unrestricted free-agent defenseman the Penguins signed Wednesday. Travel issues forced him to trek through six states to join his new team and make his Pittsburgh debut.

Logging only 12 minutes, 2 seconds of ice time on 15 shifts, the Penguins didn’t make Weber do too much heavy lifting. Even though No. 1 defenseman Kris Letang left the game 10:15 into play with an undisclosed injury, Penguins coaches weren’t going to lean too much on the new guy.

No, they leaned heavily on one of their other new guys.

P.O Joseph.

The rookie, in his fifth career NHL game, played 25:58 on 33 shifts. Additionally, he recorded three assists, all primary helpers, including on the winning goal by forward Sidney Crosby in overtime.

Off a give-and-go sequence, Joseph fed a pass from above the Rangers’ right circle to the slot for Crosby. From there, Crosby used Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo as a screen and snapped a wrister between the legs of goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.

The fact the Penguins turned to a rookie to play with two members of their top line in overtime, a domain that demands puck possession and composure, spoke to how limited their options have become on offense.

It also spoke to how highly they think of the talented 21-year-old.

“P.O had a great game,” coach Mike Sullivan said via video conference after the win. “He was competing defensively. He has great offensive instincts. You can see … some of the plays that he makes. We used him on the power play. He makes some real nice outlet passes under pressure. We believe this kid is going to get better and better. He’s a real good player. He’s a great kid. He’s got an insatiable appetite for the game. We can see him improving right in front of our eyes with every minute that he plays out there.”

Joseph became the ninth rookie defenseman in franchise history to record three points in a game. For his part, he appears to be making great efforts to remain grounded. Following his resolute effort Saturday, he was hesitant to speak about his individual success.

“We did a pretty good job out there,” Joseph said. “Whoever was on the ice out there, we battled it out. We just tried to keep it simple, and good things happened.”

One person who didn’t have any compunction in playing up Joseph’s traits was his captain.

“It’s just all the details,” Crosby said. “Defensively, he’s got a good stick. He makes a lot of good reads. Gets pucks through from the point. Those are all little details that take adjusting to. But I think he’s gained confidence with every game. Been kind of thrown into the situation based on our (injury) situation.

“Sometimes when you’re thrown into scenarios like that, you don’t think as much. You can see with every game, he’s gotten better and better. He had another great game tonight. He was good defensively and created a lot offensively as well.”

Perhaps Joseph’s most impressive assist was his second. Late in the first period, Joseph took a pass at the left point. Joseph sold a fake shot so convincingly, defending Rangers forward Phillip Di Giuseppe’s knees buckled. That created a shooting lane for Joseph to launch a wrister. Darting through the left circle, Penguins forward Brandon Tanev deflected the puck through Georgiev’s legs.

“We go down to five defensemen so early in the game,” Sullivan said. “He played close to (26) minutes tonight … which for a young player in this league is an exorbitant amount of minutes. And he handled it extremely well.

“We’re really excited about P.O. He’s a good player. We knew he was real close coming into this year, and he’s earning his time. Tonight I think might have been his best game of the season for us when we needed it.”