Struggling Penguins make more changes to lines, defensive pairings

Matthew Phillips experienced a first in his still-brief tenure with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

A day without Jaromir Jagr.

After being claimed off waivers from the Washington Capitals on Friday, Phillips parachuted into the delirium of the Penguins’ weekend-long celebration of Jagr that included the icon practicing with the active players Saturday then having his No. 68 retired Sunday.

“(Sunday) was a pretty wacky game day,” said Phillips, who made his Penguins debut in Sunday’s 2-1 home loss to the Los Angeles Kings. “We didn’t really even get to warm up for the game. So, there’s been a lot going on at once. But it’s kind of nice in a sense. Just don’t overthink it. Just play and listen to the older guys here, and everyone’s been great, so it’s been really good so far.”

By Monday, things were back to normal.

With one exception.

Phillips was given a promotion to the second line as the Penguins deployed a considerably different assortment of lines and defensive pairings during practice in Cranberry.

While the top line of Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust remained status quo, Phillips jumped on to the second line with Evgeni Malkin and Drew O’Connor.

Reilly Smith was moved down to the third line and skated with Lars Eller and rookie Valtteri Puustinen, recently recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The fourth line also remained static with Jansen Harkins, Jeff Carter and Colin White.

As for the defensive pairings, P.O Joseph, a healthy scratch for the past two games, was stationed on the top duo with Kris Letang.

Meanwhile, Marcus Pettersson was reunited with Erik Karlsson. They played together for the first few months of the season.

Ryan Graves was bumped to the third pairing with Chad Ruhwedel, and forward Jesse Puljujarvi and rookie defenseman John Ludvig served as a “fourth” pairing.

Given the Penguins’ issues with injuries among their forwards — Noel Acciari (concussion), Jake Guentzel (undisclosed) and Matt Nieto (right knee) are out — as well as an unappetizing 1-4-0 mark in their past five games, no alterations can be dismissed.

“We’ve been hit pretty hard up front with injuries,” said Eller, who has had a revolving door of linemates as the No. 3 center. “It’s the nature of the situation. Everybody is just trying to make the best of it. It’s not ideal to switch around that much. But sometimes, you have no choice with all the guys we have out. It is what it is.

“Good players will find a way to get the job done.”

One of the Penguins’ best players is Letang, and he has played on a pairing with Joseph in previous seasons. So their union won’t require much acclimation.

“I think it’s going to be pretty good,” Letang said of his fellow Quebecois and roommate in Pittsburgh. “Obviously, we had the chance to play together quite a lot, especially at the beginning of his career. It’s fun because we have good communication and we can get on the same page. He’s so easy to talk to, and he asks a lot of questions on different plays. He wants to learn, he wants to get better. And that’s easy to do when you have a partner like that.”

Chances are, no matter what the Penguins do in their next game Tuesday against New York Islanders — another vital contest given both teams’ struggles to stay in the playoff race — they could have different lines or pairings by Wednesday.

Such is life in the NHL.

“That happens,” Graves said. “We’re all trying to win. Ask anyone in this room, no one cares if they’re top-six (forwards), top-four (defensemen), first power play, second power play, whatever it is. Guys care about that for sure, but we care more about winning than that. We’re just trying to find sparks for guys and ways to have success.”

“You can’t just stay with the same thing every time when you’re not winning.”

Notes: Reserve goaltender Magnus Hellberg was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League under emergency conditions Sunday and worked out Monday in Cranberry. After Monday’s practice, coach Mike Sullivan explained one of the team’s incumbent goaltenders — he did not identify which one — was feeling unwell, and Hellberg was summoned as a precaution. Starter Tristan Jarry and backup Alex Nedeljkovic each dressed for Sunday’s game. … Hellberg skated with Acciari and Nieto on Monday.