The Pittsburgh Penguins miss injured rookie defenseman John Marino on a variety of fronts.
One that might be the easiest to quantify is the penalty kill.
Before Marino left the lineup after fracturing bones in his face Feb. 6, he had averaged 2 minutes, 2 seconds of short-handed ice time this season, fourth-most among Penguins defensemen.
With defenseman Brian Dumoulin (2:07 of average short-handed ice time) also sidelined because of a left ankle ailment, the Penguins have turned to reserve defenseman Chad Ruhwedel on the penalty kill.
In the two games since Marino was injured, Ruhwedel has averaged 2:32 of short-handed ice time. That’s a considerable increase from the 1:07 he had averaged in his first 30 games of the season.
Given Ruhwedel was a healthy scratch for the first 21 games of the season, he’ll gladly accept extra ice time in any scenario.
“It’s good,” Ruhwedel said. “It’s just another opportunity to be out there and get some more ice time.”
At 5-foot-11 and 191 pounds, Ruhwedel doesn’t cover as much surface area as larger defensemen such as Jack Johnson (6-1, 227) or Dumoulin (6-4, 207). As such, Ruhwedel relies on his skating a bit more than some of his more robust teammates.
“I’ve just got to make up for it with (my) feet and try to cover as much ice,” Ruhwedel said. “Just playing within our system and trying to determine whether I’m going to go (pressure an opponent). … Try to stay aggressive and take away their time and space.”
The Penguins generally take a pretty aggressive approach to defending on the penalty kill. Ruhwedel’s skating ability makes him a candidate to be deployed with that unit, even if only as a replacement.
“He’s got great mobility,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He can really skate. He defends hard. He’s competitive. He plays with a little bit of edge. He’s just a good defensive defenseman. He has good awareness. Those are the attributes that allow him to be the player that he is. The other thing is that Chad has a real good understanding of what his role is on this team. He plays within himself. He doesn’t try to do too much. He keeps his game simple and because of that, he’s a real solid, reliable defenseman for us.”
