Penguins shake up lines; Michael Bunting likely a healthy scratch vs. Jets
Share this post:
Few Pittsburgh Penguins players appeared to have set themselves up to begin this season with more momentum than winger Michael Bunting.
In 21 games with the club post-trade from the Carolina Hurricanes last year, Bunting was electric, scoring six goals with 13 assists.
Unfortunately for Bunting, an unanticipated slow start to the year has him on the verge of relegation from the club’s top six forwards to a healthy scratch.
“I think our expectation is higher,” coach Mike Sullivan said Saturday in Cranberry when asked to assess Bunting’s season to date.
The previous night, in a deflating 4-1 home loss to his former team, Bunting was demoted mid-game from the second line with Evgeni Malkin down to Lars Eller’s third line.
By game’s end, Bunting was taking shifts with the fourth line.
Then, Saturday’s practice saw Bunting removed entirely from the Penguins’ lines, instead placed on a reserve defensive pairing with Jack St. Ivany.
Normally, players skating on a fourth defensive pairing in practice are safe bets to be healthy scratches for upcoming games.
Bunting acknowledged he was unlikely to suit up for Sunday’s road contest against the Winnipeg Jets, with the Penguins beginning a four-game road trip to Western Canada.
“Just got to get out of your own way,” Bunting told TribLive. “Every player goes through this. I’ve been through this a million times — it’s nothing new. I believe in myself, and I believe in my capabilities. Once I get my shot back in the lineup, I’ll be ready to go.”
Drew O’Connor, whom Sullivan is comfortable floating up and down the lineup, took Bunting’s place as Malkin’s left winger Saturday.
Bunting said thus far, several aspects of his game that made him so effective upon landing with Pittsburgh have been absent.
“I don’t know, I just think I’ve got to simplify my game — go to what makes me successful,” he said. “Creating energy, going to the net, playing in other teams’ faces and maybe I haven’t been playing like that for the first six. Just a little reset here. I’m very confident in what I’ve been doing in this league for a long time, and I’m ready to go.”
Bunting’s removal from the fold was not the only notable lineup development for the Penguins on Saturday, as fellow winger Valtteri Puustinen joined the action and is likely to make his season debut Sunday.
The 25-year-old Finn showed growth last year in his first extended taste as an NHLer, scoring five goals with 15 assists over 52 games.
But through six games this year, he has been a healthy scratch for the Penguins.
That appears set to change, as Puustinen was Eller’s left wing in practice alongside Jesse Puljujarvi to form the Penguins’ third line.
“I am really, really excited,” Puustinen said. “This is a little bit hard, because (the) last games, last two weeks, I just practiced. But if I play (Sunday) and start to see more games, I’ll (be) working really, really hard. … Of course, I want to play all games. But if (that doesn’t) happen, I can try to stay positive and work hard on (the) ice.”
Eller, who skated with both Puustinen and Puljujarvi at times last year, likes the potential of reuniting with them.
“It’ll be good — they’re both legit NHL players,” Eller said. “I know (Puustinen) hasn’t played yet but in my mind, he’s a legit NHL player who kind of established himself last year. We have a deep team this year. It was just a question of when he was going to get in. I’ve liked playing with him in the past.
“And Jesse has been playing well. I think we have the makeup to make a good line. Now, work together and play off each other’s strengths and use each other well and it could be a good line.”
In addition to the forward shakeups, Sullivan tinkered with his third defensive pairing, placing Ryan Shea next to Ryan Graves.
So far, Jack St. Ivany has played five of the club’s six games alongside Graves, with Shea seeing action in one.
But if Saturday’s groupings hold, Shea will take the ice with Graves on Sunday in Winnipeg.
The Penguins’ full lines, defensive pairings and special teams units Saturday were as follows:
72 – Anthony Beauvillier – 87 Sidney Crosby – 17 Bryan Rust
10 – Drew O’Connor – 71 Evgeni Malkin – 67 Rickard Rakell
48 Valtteri Puustinen – 20 Lars Eller – 18 Jesse Puljujarvi
13 Kevin Hayes – 19 Cody Glass – 55 Noel Acciari
24 – Matt Grzelcyk – 58 Kris Letang
28 – Marcus Pettersson – 65 Erik Karlsson
27 – Ryan Graves – 5 Ryan Shea
8 – Michael Bunting – 3 Jack St. Ivany
Note: Sullivan reported no status changes to injured forwards Blake Lizotte (concussion), Matt Nieto (reconstructive knee surgery) and Vasily Ponomarev (undisclosed). The three will not travel with the Penguins throughout Western Canada.