Beau Bennett: Exits with shoulder injury

“The expectations are high and we understand that”. In case you missed the game here’s the hit on Bennett.

Coach Mike Sullivan said after the team’s practice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex that Fleury came to the coaches and medical staff with news that he wasn’t feeling well after the team’s game against the Washington Capitals on Monday night. The Penguins are 10-20-5 in Metropolitan Division games over the last two seasons, including 1-3-1 this season.No Penguins coach who took over the team with the season already started has won his debut since Rick Kehoe in 2001. They occasionally aren’t defending and – perhaps most troubling – the magic they once summoned so easily seems to have disappeared. They remain in a tie for ninth in the Eastern Conference and are 27th in goals per game despite ranking fifth in shots. “It’s not the old way where you just make a one-for-one hockey deal and that’s it. You just have to get real creative”. While the team has played to a full house for almost eight years and counting, it’s one of the few constants for a franchise in flux.

Even worse than the 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals, the Pittsburgh Penguins will face added difficulty these coming weeks due to a major injury to Beau Bennett and a possible injury to star goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The Penguins also have struggled offensively, ranking near the bottom of the National Hockey League with a little more than two goals per game.

Dupuis retired last week because of blood clotting issues.

“I don’t know him as a person but having played in the West and against him for a couple years … he is just an elite, elite skater”, defenseman Ben Lovejoy said.

“We create an environment here that we inspire people to play”, he said. The puck drops at 8:00 PM ET on NBCSN.

“For me, as a coach, I think you learn through the experiences you go through, both the successes and failures”, Sullivan said.

Center Patrice Bergeron is the only holdover from Sullivan’s time in Boston, and he said he was excited to hear his former coach had been given a second chance. “Getting a new voice in there and taking another shot at how that works, is something I looked at, too”.

“Yes. One of the positives of late is that our defense has been more activated, it’s jumped in the play more”, Rutherford said over the phone Sunday.

The Penguins announced midway through the third period that they traded veteran defenseman Rob Scuderi to the Chicago Blackhawks for defenseman Trevor Daley. Only time will tell, but Sullivan is pushing the Penguins in the right direction and despite adversity he has done a great job as the head coach to this point.

Tortorella allowed Sullivan to oversee the power play, a responsibility Sullivan said he would assume with the Penguins.