Despite struggles, Brassard says there's no place he'd rather be taken in Washington (Penguins)

Derick Brassard during Saturday's morning skate. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

WASHINGTON -- Derick Brassard wanted to make one point abundantly clear Saturday morning: There is no place he'd rather be.

Here, of course, not meaning the freezing cold and cramped visitor's locker room at Capital One Arena. Here, also not meaning skating 10:50 per game on the fourth line. But that's exactly where Brassard was Thursday night in the Penguins' 3-1 win over the Capitals and it's a role he is likely to play again tonight in Game 5.

"I have a chance to be on a good team and I'll take that any day of the week," he told a small group of Pittsburgh reporters before Game 5. "I'd rather be in this dressing room this morning than be somewhere in Florida golfing."

When the Penguins traded for Brassard in a Feb. 23 blockbuster from Ottawa, he was seen as the missing piece, the third-line center behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who would assure Pittsburgh of a third-straight championship. Hasn't quite happened, not yet anyway.

"I was expecting that when I was coming in, playing behind those two guys and playing on a team that won the last two Stanley Cups, I was expecting that," Brassard said. "I knew I wasn't going to get the same role as I had before with the Senators or with the Rangers.

"But we're a team here and you have to take your role really seriously and play your best."

After he got off to a slow start with his new team, recording a goal and assist in his first seven games, Brassard started to find some traction. He was on a six-game points streak when he suffered a groin injury at Detroit on March 27 and was shut down for the final six games of the regular season. He refuses to use the injury as an excuse but his production and play have slipped noticeably since then.

"Just a matter of getting some bounces," he said. "Had some looks the last five or six games, it is what it is. Eventually, it's going to go in. Or eventually the chances that I create are going to go in."

Brassard returned for the start of the playoffs but has just a goal and two assists to show for it in 10 games, with zero points on just five shots over the last five games. Not exactly befitting of a player who earned the nickname "Big Game Brass."

He says he felt he had started to develop chemistry with Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust, but injuries to Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin forced Mike Sullivan to reshuffle the deck late in the first round.  The last two games he's been centering a fourth line with Sheary, who has just two assists this spring, and Tom Kuhnhackl, a defensive specialist who hasn't registered a point since Jan. 30. Riley Sheahan, the center he was supposed to replace, has been skating again with the third line.

"Some of those chances didn't go in and after that you're not starting to doubt yourself, but it's a matter of being confident when you have the puck in the slot or one of those key areas, being looser out there, kind of being a confident hockey player," Brassard said. "Eventually it's going to to go in. If you don't have any scoring chances, then you have to worry about it. But if I have 10-11-12 (minutes), I'll try to make the best of it."

To be sure, the Penguins' lines hardly fit the traditional mold. There is no checking line, per se. Brassard says the Penguins need all four lines, his included, to start producing. Against the Capitals, the Penguins have received every one of their 10 even-strength goals from their top line with Crosby and Jake Guentzel.

"There's a lot of pressure this time of year, but I think as a hockey player, especially at this time, you're not worried about scoring, you're just worried about playing well, playing the right way," Brassard said. "Because there's not a lot of space out there, not a lot of scoring chances. Eventually it's going to come. If you're trying to get in the inside, try and get in front to the tough areas, eventually you're going to be in the right place at the right time. It's going to happen soon."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY

Penguins morning skate, Washington, May 5, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

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