You can illustrate the plight of the Pittsburgh Penguins in defense simply by pointing out that they have six injured defenders.
But you can paint a much more vivid picture by looking at one of the options during a 5-4 win on the road in overtime against Rangers on Saturday: a guy who had to drive from Nashville to Manhattan to prepare for the team.
That was the case with Yannick Weber, a free and unrestricted defender that the Penguins signed on Wednesday. Travel problems forced him to travel across six states to join his new team and make his debut in Pittsburgh.
Registering just 12 minutes, 2 seconds of ice in 15 turns, the Penguins did not make Weber do much heavy lifting. Even though defender number 1, Kris Letang, left the game at 10:15 with an undisclosed injury, the Penguins coaches were not going to rely much on the new guy.
No, they relied heavily on one of their other new guys.
PO Joseph.
The rookie, in his fifth NHL game in his career, played 25:58 in 33 rounds. In addition, he recorded three assists, all top assistants, including in the winning goal of striker Sidney Crosby in overtime.
In a give-and-go sequence, Joseph fed a pass above the Rangers’ right circle to Crosby’s slot. From there, Crosby used Rangers defender Tony DeAngelo as the canvas and hit a wrister between the legs of goalkeeper Alexandar Georgiev.
The fact that the Penguins resort to a novice to play with two members of their top line in overtime, a domain that requires possession of the puck and composure, shows how their options have become limited in attack.
It also showed how much they think about the talented 21-year-old.
“PO played a great game,” said coach Mike Sullivan in a videoconference after the victory. “He was competing defensively. He has great offensive instincts. You can see … some of the moves he makes. We use it in the power game. He makes some really cool passes under pressure. We believe that this boy will get better and better. He’s a very good player. He’s a great boy. He has an insatiable appetite for the game. We can see him improving right before our eyes with every minute he plays outside. “
Joseph became the ninth novice defender in the franchise’s history to score three points in a game. For his part, he seems to be making great efforts to remain with his feet on the ground. After his resolute effort on Saturday, he hesitated to talk about his individual success.
“We did a great job there,” said Joseph. “Whoever was on the ice outside, we fight. We just tried to keep things simple, and good things happened. “
One person who had no qualms about exhibiting Joseph’s characteristics was his captain.
“It’s just all the details,” said Crosby. “Defensively, he has a good stick. He does a lot of good reading. Pick up discs from the point. These are all small details that need to be adjusted. But I think he gained confidence with every game. It was kind of played in the situation based on our situation (injury).
“Sometimes, when you’re launched into scenarios like this, you don’t think much. You can see in each game, it just keeps getting better. He had another big game tonight. He was good defensively and created a lot of offense too. “
Perhaps Joseph’s most impressive assistance was his second. At the end of the first period, Joseph passed the left stitch. Joseph sold a fake shot so convincingly, defending the knees of Rangers striker Phillip Di Giuseppe. This created a course of fire for Joseph to launch a wrister. Running through the left circle, Penguins striker Brandon Tanev deflected the puck between Georgiev’s legs.
“We dropped to five defenders so early in the game,” said Sullivan. “He played almost (26) minutes tonight … which for a young player in this league is an exorbitant amount of minutes. And he handled it extremely well.
“We are very excited about PO He is a good player. We knew that he was very close to entering this year, and he is saving his time. Tonight I think it may have been the best game of the season for us, when we needed it. “
Seth Rorabaugh is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. You can contact Seth by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
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