A night earlier, Mike Sullivan called it the Penguins' biggest character win and praised his team's resiliency. Turns out the Penguins ' 5-4 shootout win Wednesday over the Blue Jackets came at a pretty steep cost.
The resolve of Sullivan's team will be even further tested in the days, weeks and, yes, months ahead after three more injuries were announced after Thursday's practice at the Lemieux Complex.
Matt Murray, who made 29 saves against Columbus, is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Tristan Jarry will start in his place Friday when the Penguins play at Carolina. Additionally, Sullivan said Bryan Rust is out "longer term" with an upper-body injury and Chad Ruhwedel is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
This is the second time that the 23-year-old Murray has been injured this season after missing two weeks earlier this month with a lower-body injury suffered Nov. 27 when Philadelphia's Jake Voracek slid into him. Murray was healthy enough to finish Wednesday's game, making this stop on Artemi Panarin in the shootout:
While Murray was out, the organization got an extended look at Jarry as a No. 1 goalie and Sullivan says he liked what he saw. Jarry is 5-2-2 with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
"Tristan's a good goalie," Sullivan said. "He's played some good games for us. He's helped us win some games. We think he's capable and will be a solid goalie for us. He can make the timely save. He's very capable, manages the puck well. There's a lot of things we like about Tristan's game."
The most troubling injury is to Rust, who assisted on Conor Sheary's second-period goal and played 10:06 on Wednesday. Rust has four goals and 18 points in 38 games, while drawing a team-high 16 penalties, according to Corsica Hockey. Rust appeared to injure himself while attempting to lift the stick of Columbus' Markus Nutivaara early in the third period and did not return:
Ruhwedel, who played 10:03 against Columbus, is listed as week-to-week. Ruhwedel was injured midway through the second period while trying to play the body on Nick Foligno. Ruhwedel stood up the Blue Jackets captain, but took the worst of the play:
Ruhwedel has three points in 30 games this season. Earlier Thursday, the Penguins recalled Frank Corrado from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, presumably to take Ruhwedel's place. Corrado skated on a pair with Olli Maatta at practice Thursday.
Those injuries come a day after Kris Letang sat out his first game of the season with a lower-body injury. Letang won't play against the Hurricanes and is still day-to-day, according to Sullivan. Justin Schultz, out with a lower-body injury since earlier this month, appears close to returning.
"We've always had our fair share of injuries that we've had to fight through to have success," Sullivan said. "This is no different. It's going to provide opportunities for others to step up and we believe that we have capable guys. It's a test of the depth of our team but we believe we have that depth."