The Pittsburgh Penguins finished their home slate with a disappointing 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Friday night, and may have lost even more than that, as news broke late Friday night that defenseman Kris Letang will not return this season.
Letang, 27, finished his most prolific season under less-than-ideal circumstances. He fell backwards into the boards awkwardly after a hit by Arizona Coyotes forward Shane Doan on March 28 and spent the night in the hospital for observation.
He was diagnosed with a concussion, and after a few days off, had begun some off-ice rehabilitation. Just a few days ago, Penguins head coach Mike Johnston said that it was possible that Letang would be able to return to the ice this postseason.
Now, according to a report by Dejan Kovacevic, Letang will instead be shut down for the remainder of the 2014-15 campaign.
Letang will finish his season with career highs in points (79) goals (11) and assists (43), despite playing in just 69 games. It’s the second consecutive season that he has endured a serious injury. He played in just 37 games in 2013-14 after suffering a stroke.
The Penguins, meanwhile, certainly missed their top defender on the ice at Consol Energy Center, as they were handled easily by and Islanders team that had nothing to play for but pride.
Continuing a trend, the Penguins again dominated the first period, outshooting the Islanders 17-5, but came out of the opening frame with a 1-0 deficit. Patric Hornqvist had appeared to score a power-play goal, but it was waived off by referee Jean Hebert and video review was inconclusive.
Just seconds later, Islanders forward Casey Czikas split the Penguins defense thanks to a long outlet pass by Cal Clutterbuck and beat Marc-Andre Fleury on the breakaway.
The Penguins were able to draw even in the middle frame when defensive defenseman Rob Scuderi scored his first goal of the season with just 5.7 seconds remaining. Sidney Crosby and Paul Martin assisted. For Crosby, it was his 56th assist of the season and his 84th point, putting him one ahead of Jamie Benn and John Tavares for the NHL scoring lead.
His lead wouldn’t last long. At 2:46 of the third period, former Penguins defenseman Brian Strait took a slap shot from the point that was deflected on goal by Kyle Okposo. The change in direction handcuffed Fleury, and he kicked the rebound directly to Tavares, who fired it back into the net to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead and level the scoring race.
The Penguins hung on down one goal, but struggled to generate offense, and what they were able to get through the Islanders defense, Jaroslav Halak was able to absorbe. The Slovakian netminder finished the night with 37 saves.
At 16:20 of the third period, Michael Grabner finished off the Penguins, as he took a pass from Josh Bailey after a defensive-zone faceoff win and raced 180 feet past both Penguins defensemen and beat Fleury with a high wrist shot for his eighth goal of the season.
The Penguins have now lost five straight games (0-4-1) and have lost two games in a row in which a win would have clinched a playoff berth.
Photo credit: NHLI/Getty Images
