The Pittsburgh Penguins had a health scare with Kris Letang, and a few bumps and bruises along the way — but outside of not having fourth line center Teddy Blueger for the start of the season — it’s been an unusually smooth start to the season for the Pens. That ended on Saturday, when defenseman Jeff Petry was injured. He’ll be out now for at least about a month after going to long term injury reserve, and suddenly the Pens have their first meaningful injury absence to overcome.
Petry’s role on the Penguins has been increasingly important in his first year with the team, and he had seemed to find his stride and settle in with Marcus Pettersson as of late.