PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Without most of its veteran stars, the Pens lost 6-3 to Washington Saturday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena. A game where three of the Pens greatest players were scratched.
The game meant everything to the Caps trying to keep playoff hopes alive, while the Pens position couldn’t change. Pens head coach Dan Muse was stern the reason they didn’t play was due to injury.
“You’ve seen over the last stretch the number of guys who have been coming in and out,” Muse said. “Guys have been doing everything they can for this team. We’ve had a lot of guys playing through a lot. They are banged up. We will continue to evaluate and make decisions moving forward.”
Those who missed Saturday with a game in Washington on Sunday:
- Sidney Crosby (lower-body)
- Ben Kindel (upper-body)
- Evgeni Malkin (upper-body)
- Bryan Rust (lower-body)
- Erik Karlsson (lower-body)
- Kris Letang (upper-body)
- Parker Wotherspoon (upper-body)
Muse wants all to know they continue to play to win for the last two games.
“There’s parts of our game that we can continue to get better at,” Muse said. “We want to keep pushing. We want to keep doing the right things. We want to keep moving in the right direction. All of those things in play, every time we get an opportunity to go out and play, we are going to play to win.”
“It’s definitely tough,” said defenseman Ryan Shea of all the new bodies due to injury. “I think it’s tough at the start. It takes a little time to get into it. We had opportunities, we just couldn’t capitalize.”
“We’ve had guys in and out of the lineup throughout the whole year,” said forward Rickard Rakell. “At the same time, it gets new guys some opportunities to get some more ice time and play in different situations. Obviously, those guys are hard to replace.”
“There was an opportunity tonight for guys to raise their hand,” Muse said about the opportunity for others. “Whether it’s an opportunity right away or an opportunity if needed. I want to be the next man up.”
Notes
- Pens finished with only 11 shots for the game to 31 for Washington
- Anthony Mantha added to his career-high with his 32nd goal
- Kevin Hayes returned to the lineup for the first time since March 3 and scored a breakaway for his 4th goal of the season
- Arturs Silovs finished with 25 saves
“It was a lot of chances, it was a lot of pucks,” Muse said of Silovs. “I thought he was battling. I thought in the first period he made some huge plays. Some of those second opportunities, we can clean that up. I’m not putting that on him. I thought he was good.”
- Noel Acciari scored and is two points from tying his career-high
What head coach Dan Muse said about the decision, notes from game
What head coach Dan Muse said about the decision, notes from game
