PITTSBURGH — They can call their top trio the Dunkin’ Line and their second threesome the Krispy Kreme Line. It’s time for Baker Lou to fill the center holes of his Donut Devils, and he knows it.
“We’ll see. There’s no question that if you can get a player that will help you, you do it,” general manager Lou Lamoriello said, acknowledging his task with Jacob Josefson joining fellow center Travis Zajac in facing long injury absences. “But you have to give up something to get something. If you add, you have to make sure what you subtract isn’t more than you receive.”
Surviving and thriving without your top two centers can be done, as the Penguins, minus stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, showed by beating the Devils 4-1 last night. The Penguins are 26-15-6 in their past 47 playing without both Crosby (concussion) and Malkin (knee).
Devils coach Pete DeBoer, however, only could look for the bright side of his short-centered situation after two losses in two nights, one by shootout. The Devils were held to two regulation goals or less for the fourth time in six games, slipping to 3-2-1 on the season.
“To be six games in and a game over .500, we would have taken that at the start of the season,” he said.
He can’t escape the reality that Josefson is out 3-4 months following surgery yesterday to repair his right collarbone, fractured when he slid into the boards Friday, and Zajac will miss another six weeks following Achilles tendon surgery. It could hurt more because the Devils do not look like a team that can make do makeshift.
With Adam Henrique called up from the AHL to center David Clarkson and Mattias Tedenby on the third line, the Devils’ top two lines were back to using converted wingers — Patrik Elias and Dainius Zubrus — in the middle. Elias has proven he can handle the job, but the rest of the middle is trying not to be overmatched.
After losing 4-3 in a shootout to the Sharks on Friday in Newark, the Devils were sluggish early and were lucky to escape the first period down by one. Jordan Staal connected on the power play at 6:07 of the first, when his snap from the left circle glanced up off the blade of Anton Volchenkov and over Johan Hedberg’s glove. Henrique had the Devils’ best chance in the first, but failed to convert a breakaway.
As usual, the team playing a second straight night revived in the second, but the Devils were unable to erase the deficit.
It took a bit of mistaken identity to put the Devils on the board at 1:47 of the third. Elias sticked Steve Sullivan, but a quick-thinking Petr Sykora — who is not needed on the penalty kill — went to the box for the double minor instead. Elias promptly scored shorthanded.
“It was unrespectful to the referee [Kevin Pollock], but I was trying to help my team. I didn’t want Patrik in the box for four minutes,” Sykora said. “He came up to me later and he wasn’t happy. I apologized to him.”
That cheating didn’t win. Chris Kunitz converted the second half of the power play to put the Penguins back in front at 3:07, the first of three in a span of 6:07. Staal followed 1:10 later with a backhand that went in off Hedberg’s left shoulder, short side. James Neal then victimized Henrik Tallinder in the right corner to put his eighth of the young season past Hedberg at 9:14, the fourth straight on the glove side.
“Maybe they figured out I have a really bad glove,” Hedberg said sarcastically.
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Devils winger Eric Boulton sat out after damaging his right hand with a one-punch knockdown of the Sharks’ Doug Murray on Friday. He wore an elastic brace on the hand and said X-rays did not show any broken bones. . . . Ilya Kovalchuk sat out the final minutes after playing 21:05. “The game was over,” he said. “Everything’s good.” . . Sullivan, a former Devil, played his 900th game. Sullivan was dealt to the Maple Leafs in 1997 trade that brought Doug Gilmour to the Devils. . . . The Devils visit the Kings on Tuesday, Coyotes on Thursday and Stars on Saturday on their western tour. . . . Martin Brodeur did not accompany the team on the trip, but continues to skate while right elbow bruise heals.