Brian Dumoulin played just 14 minutes, 18 seconds Friday at Minnesota, the least amount of ice time he has seen in the past 28 regular-season games he has started and finished.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan decreased that even more, down to zero, when he made Dumoulin a healthy scratch for a game Saturday against the New Jersey Devils, inserting Steve Oleksy into the lineup and shuffling his bottom two defense pairings.
Having Dumoulin sit out was not because he no longer ranks among the top six defensemen. He does. You don’t go from the top pairing to the press box — routinely — in 21 games.