Before Tuesday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan sat down with Ryan Reaves and told Reaves he’d be a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
“[Sullivan] just said we’re playing a speed team, and he wanted a little more speed,” Reaves said.
It’s a simple concept — putting together a speed-based lineup against a speed-based team — but it hadn’t really happened before that 3-1 victory over the Hurricanes, when Bryan Rust returned from an 11-game absence, took Reaves’ spot and set up the game-winning goal.
Reaves understands the move — “Rusty’s a big part of this team,” Reaves said, “and he showed it [Tuesday] by helping out on a big goal” — but ceding his spot in the lineup is obviously not something the NHL’s toughest player wants to do.