Repeating as Stanley Cup champions is hard enough. Doing it without key contributors makes it even harder.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were dealt another couple of injury blows Monday, as Justin Schultz was lost to an apparent shoulder injury. Here's how it happened:
The incident occurred after Ottawa Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf obliterated forward Bryan Rust with a devastating - but clean - hit on a Penguins rush.
Rust went to the room, and neither he or Schultz were on the Pittsburgh bench as the second period began. There's no official word on their status.
The Penguins are already missing Kris Letang and Trevor Daley on defense, so Schultz's loss both for Game 2 and potentially longer is a huge one.
Schultz went into Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final averaging 21:10 of ice time in the playoffs - tops on the team. He played only 3:40 before being hurt, and Mike Sullivan had no choice but to lean on his five remaining defenders.
Ian Cole, Brian Dumoulin, Ron Hainsey, Olli Maatta, and Chad Ruhwedel were all in the nine-to-10 minute range halfway through the game.
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