Justin Schultz had played in 411 other games just like Saturday's. But this one, he admitted, was a little different. On the commute to PPG Paints Arena, the 28-year-old said he felt something he hadn't felt since his first NHL game some seven years ago.
In some ways, it kind of was.
"It was exciting, nerve-wracking," Schultz was saying. "Don't remember being that nervous before a regular-season game."
But after getting a warm reception from the home crowd, and taking a few hits, all those emotions and anxious feelings were long sweat out after logging 17-plus minutes and 23 shifts. As the game wore on, Schultz was able to bear down and do what he's been training tirelessly to do for the better part of the last four months.
In the end, with 1:22 remaining and his team making one desperate push to get the tying goal, Mike Sullivan pulled Casey DeSmith in favor of an extra attacker. Over the boards he sent the Penguins' six most offensively-gifted players: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Patric Horqnvist, Kris Letang and you better believe Schultz was out there, too.
That's all you need to know about what Schultz means to Sullivan and to the Penguins.
The coach didn't hesitate for a moment to send out a guy who had missed the previous 53 games recovering from a fractured left leg and had been on IR just 24-hours earlier. With 10 ticks of the clock remaining, Schultz somehow mustered up the strength on that surgically-repaired leg -- that's not really held together by a plate and rope -- to race back to the far goal line for an icing call:
"Just trusting in that leg, it was fine," Schultz said. "I was confident in it. It's going to take some time but I thought it was a decent first game back."
In a perfect world, Schultz would have scored the tying goal off the ensuing face-off. Instead, the Penguins won the draw only to lose the game 5-4 to the Calgary Flames and, coupled with the Hurricanes’ win later Saturday night, saw them fall out of a playoff spot. However, in a game filled with positives despite the result, Schultz's return was unquestionably the biggest and potentially the most meaningful for the Penguins.
"I thought he was terrific," Sullivan said afterward when I asked him about Schultz's performance. "You can just see the impact he has. His ability to pass the puck. He sees the ice. He joins the rush. He's active on the offensive blueline. Our transition game ... he helps us in so many ways. He's a solid defenseman. I thought he made a big difference."
Schultz made an early difference, too.
On his first shift, just 1:38 in, Schultz had the game's first shot. And it was a good one. Malkin, who played like, well, Evgeni Malkin, flipped a backhander into the high slot that Schultz skated into, ripping a wrist shot that Mike Smith just got a blocker on:
"He made a great pass, too bad I couldn't put it in," Schultz said.
Again, in a perfect world ...
But Schultz did get on the scoresheet in a big way late in the first period.
As the Penguins' first power play chance was expiring, Nick Bjugstad entered the offensive zone with a head full of steam and swooped behind the Flames' net. From the left corner, Bjugstad -- who'd never played with Schultz before -- found the defenseman at the top of the left circle. From there, Schultz targeted a wrist shot, this time to Smith's glove hand. But the shot never got there -- good thing, too, since it was going well wide -- thanks to Jake Guentzel, who deflected it in to tie the score at 1-1 at 17:41 of the first period:
"Just a great play by Nick to get it up to me," Schultz said. "I knew the power play was expiring and Jake did a great job of taking (Smith's) eyes away and putting his stick out. I laid it in there for him and he did the rest of the work."
Sullivan called the goal, Guentzel's team-leading 28th of the season, a "simple play" that's "hard to defend." It also went down as the only power play opportunity that the Penguins didn't convert on four chances Saturday. Schultz played just :28 on the power play but his return should stabilize the second unit, which has used every other defenseman during his absence.
Schultz played 15:50 at even strength while being reunited with defense partner Jack Johnson. They had previously played just three games and half of a period together this season. By pairing Schultz and Johnson, Sullivan had three left-right defense pairings which allowed the Penguins to pick up the pace in the all-important transition game. With all of the Flames goals coming off Penguins' sticks, Saturday's loss could actually be chalked up more to bad luck, than bad entries or exits. Sullivan said he likes those two veterans together because of their complementary skill sets. Sullivan added that it's a similar arrangement to the top pair of Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang.
"Jack's more of a stay at home guy, he's a defense-first, defending defenseman," the coach said. "And Schultzie is a guy that likes to jump in the rush, get involved offensively and is active off the offensive blue line."
At least for one game, the pairing of Schultz-Johnson was arguably the Penguins' best. Dumoulin had entered the game tied for the league lead at plus-29 with Calgary's Mark Giordano, a Norris Trophy candidate along with Letang. However, Dumoulin took a minus-3 for only the second time this season.
Schultz added one block and one hit to go along with his assist while Johnson added three hits. Here, Schultz takes a first period hit from Mikael Backlund in the first period and then throws one in the third on Giordano:
Johnson has been a lightning rod for criticism much of this season, particularly during the Penguins' recent struggles. Though Johnson reiterated to me that he has no preference on what side he plays, now that he's back on the left, the hope is that the Penguins will get the best of Jim Rutherford's biggest free agent signing last summer.
"We've missed him all year long," Johnson was telling me of Schultz afterward. "Having him out that long, we were so excited to have him back. I think we were even more excited than he was."
Of course, it wasn't all great for the second pairing.
On the Flames' second goal, just 1:39 into the second, Schultz got caught on an aggressive pinch to set up an odd-man rush the other way. Though Schultz got back into the play, the sequence culminated in Michael Frolik putting in the rebound -- a big one left by Matt Murray -- off Rasmus Andersson's point shot. That was the first of four Calgary goals in the fateful second period:
Despite their valiant effort in the third period, the Penguins saw their modest two-game winning streak come to an end and will be on the outside of the playoffs when they play their next game. Fortunately for them, that will come tomorrow afternoon when they host the Rangers in another matinee.
The better news is that they will be wearing their lucky gold jerseys, in which they are 7-1 this season. Oh, yes, they will also have a healthy Schultz, who, if nothing else, won't be so nervous.
"I thought we played really well, had lots of chances, they capitalized on theirs," Schultz said. "At the end the game, thought we'd probably score at the end to tie it. Can't hang our heads. We have to get back at it tomorrow."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Flames, PPG Paints Arena, Feb. 16, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS