CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Sitting around Toronto Pearson International Airport last Tuesday, Erik Gudbranson says he wasn't able to catch a minute of the Penguins' game that night in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.
Acquired a day earlier from the Canucks, Gudbranson was held up trying to clear immigration into the United States. Though the Penguins won the game 5-2 in one of their most complete performances of the season, one has to wonder if the tone and tenor of that game might have been a little different had the Penguins had a 6-foot-5, 217-pound defenseman in their lineup.
Perhaps Josh Anderson doesn't deposit Sidney Crosby on his seat during a post-whistle scrum. Maybe Brandon Dubinsky thinks twice before sending Justin Schultz flying on an open ice hit.
Well, we're about to find out what might happen differently with Gudbranson. The Penguins will face the Blue Jackets in a home-and-home series beginning with tomorrow night's game at PPG Paints Arena. From there, it doesn't get any easier with games against the Bruins on Sunday and the Capitals on Tuesday.
"Our next week and a half is no joke," Gudbranson was telling me after practice Wednesday. "They're huge games for us. Should be fun."
If these two critically important games against the Blue Jackets -- with playoff implications for both sides -- are anything like last Tuesday, it should suit Gudbranson's game well. After all, it's games like these that Gudbranson was brought in for: To keep up with the likes of Anderson and, yes, Tom Wilson in the NHL.
"I think it's one I can help with, for sure," Gudbranson said. "They're a very physical team. They forecheck hard and they're not shy to take the body. There's not going to be much space on the ice. We're going to have to manage the puck extremely well. They move the puck up quickly. We have to stay out of the box, also. They have a pretty good power play. But, at the end of the day, this is as close as it gets to playoff hockey without being playoffs."
Gudbranson has made just two playoff appearances in his eight-year career, both of them coming while with the Panthers, and both times he never got out of the first round.
"It would be unbelievable," the former third-overall pick in 2010 says of the prospect of a lengthy playoff run. "There would be nothing better."
But first things first. The Penguins, who hold the Eastern Conference's first wildcard spot with 79 points, can go a long way toward securing a playoff berth with a sweep of the Blue Jackets. Though it will be difficult, the Penguins' recent history against CBJ suggests that it is probable. Dating back to February of 2017, the Penguins are unbeaten in their last seven games against Columbus. This season, they have outscored Columbus 9-4.
Mike Sullivan, who has presided over that domination over former mentor John Tortorella, can't explain his team's success.
"We're just trying to play the game right way," Sullivan said. “They're a good team, they've got a lot of talent. They have a lot of depth. They're always hard-fought battles every time we play them. They're a divisional rival. They are exciting games to be a part of."
The Blue Jackets were the biggest buyers at the trade deadline, mortgaging their future on a run this spring, but have just two wins in five games since Feb. 25 to show for it. Both of their wins came after regulation, including Tuesday night's shootout win over the Devils.
The bigger question for the Blue Jackets this week will be who will they start in goal?
Columbus acquired Keith Kinkaid from the Devils for a 2022 fifth-round pick, giving them three goalies on the roster. Given Kinkaid's successful track record against the Penguins and Sergei Bobrovsky's abject failure, it would seem these are the games for which the Blue Jackets brought in Kinkaid. He has a 6-3-2 record with a .912 save percentage and 3.07 goals-against average against Pittsburgh. That compares to Bobrovsky's 11-8-5 mark with a .906 save percentage and 2.93 GAA. This season, Bob is 0-2 with an .846 save percentage and 4.06 GAA.
The Penguins might be in Bobrovsky's head, but Jack Johnson isn't buying it.
"I don't know if a goalie can really have a team's number necessarily or vice versa," said Johnson, Bobrovsky's former teammate. "I think any game, especially when you get down to the end of the year, it's a new chapter and anything can happen this time of year."
• Exhale, people, Patric Hornqvist is just fine. The right winger sat out Wednesday's practice with a maintenance day. But it's certainly understandable why anyone would fear the worst. Hornqvist took a Mackenzie Weegar shot to the left hand with 3:40 remaining in the first period and immediately went off the ice. However, he did return for the start of the second period and later picked up an assist on Sidney Crosby's power-play goal. The 32-year-old has been dogged by injuries in his 11th NHL season, missing 13 games due to concussion and upper body injuries.
• It has come to this: Phil Kessel scored a goal .... in practice on Matt Murray. The snakebitten sniper who has gone a career-high 16 games without a goal, raised his arms up in celebration too. As did his teammates, who clearly got a kick out of it. That was the same reaction from Penguins fans, who gave Kessel a huge ovation after he was shown on the center ice jumbotron after a missed chance on Tuesday night. Sullivan said he didn't notice it, but he says he'd heard about it since. And he's not surprised.
"I just think it's an indication of the fan support we have," he said.
• The Penguins did not show line rushes during their 35-minute, on-ice session.
• With Hornqvist sitting out, Jake Guentzel skated with the first power-play unit. The second unit had Dominik Simon, Nick Bjugstad, Jared McCann, Marcus Pettersson and Zach Trotman.
• For the second day in a row, Kris Letang skated in a red, non-contact jersey.