PITTSBURGH (93.7 the Fan) After the first nine games of the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have gotten off to a rocky start.
Their 5-3-1 record does not tell the whole story.
Four of the wins have come in overtime or shootout, and most of the time the Penguins have had to mount some sort of comeback.
Beyond the score or wins, the Penguins have been dealing with a huge amount of injuries, mostly to defensemen.
Prior to the beginning of the Saturday night matchup against the New York Rangers, the Penguins already lost four blue liners.
That's when Kris Letang left the game early and did not return.
Postgame, head coach Mike Sullivan said that Letang is being evaluated for a lower-body injury.
To recap, that's now five defensemen (four of which were in the opening night lineup) that could be missing time,
Letang: Being evaluated
Brian Dumoulin: out week-to-week
Marcus Pettersson: out a few weeks
Mike Matheson: out a few weeks, has skated recently
Juuso Riikola: out longer-term
The Penguins, especially their defensive core, will have to continue to dig deep to pull out some wins.
Prior to losing Letang, and as Jim Rutherfords last move in Pittsburgh, the Penguins signed defenseman Yannick Weber to help fill some of the gaps.
