Penguins
Kris Letang Injury, Penguins Hold Their Breath
A day after being injured in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 6-3 loss to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena Saturday, the Penguins appear to be holding their breath regarding the status of top defenseman Kris Letang.
Letang finished the game, taking his final shift with less than three minutes remaining, but suffered an injury earlier in the game.
Coach Mike Sullivan offered a concerning update on Letang, who spent Sunday being evaluated for an injury without a firm conclusion.
“He got injured in the game (Saturday), and he was evaluated through the course of the day (Sunday),” Sullivan said Sunday night. “Right now, I’m not prepared to give you a status or an estimate from a time standpoint yet because he’s continuing to be evaluated by our team doctors. So I’ll have more information, probably (Monday).”
The Penguins are not practicing on Monday, so the earliest we’ll find out is Tuesday morning in Detroit when they hold their morning skate.
Sunday, 26-year-old right-handed defenseman Nate Clurman made his NHL debut in place of Letang. The Penguins pairings were necessarily jostled by the coaches, as Matt Grzelcyk played on the top pair with Erik Karlsson. P.O Joseph moved to the right–his offside–with Ryan Graves on the left, and Ryan Shea played with Clurman.
The offensively gifted Karlsson led the Penguins in blocked shots and was pressed into penalty-killing duty.
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I hope this bandaged up defense can hold together as good as they did Sunday until reinforcements get back. The defense is playing better than it did most all of Oct. and Nov. with seems like half the dudes!!!
Pettersson should be back soon, but hopefully Tanger isn’t out long term!
Hope he’s done for the year
One day, i will work hard to figure out why some fans fixate on hating certain players. Right now, I don’t care.
As much as I haven’t liked some moves, give Dubas a ton of credit for getting POJ. I liked it to begin with and it looks even bigger now.
PO is at least NHL capable! Who knows who they would have filling in had Dubas not acquired him. 🤷🏻♂️
did you all watch the game last night? Both goals mostly on PO, in my opinion. He is constantly either leaving too much gap or getting caught flatfooted and watching people skate around him. Then he fails to challenge shooters or effectively clear the net front. He is clearly the weak link, even considering Shea and the 26 year old journeyman minorleaguer on the 3rd pair.
Letang is on a -41 pace for the season. The longer he’s out, the more beneficial it is for the team. And if he’s traded in a fair deal, it’s even better.
Hopefully leturd is out for a long long time
I hope they don’t rush Letang back because they’re a better team with him not in the game.