Pens lose key defenseman Gonchar for 6 weeks
The Pittsburgh Penguins struggled last year without No. 1 defenseman Sergei Gonchar, and now the All-Star is hurt again: He suffered a broken wrist in Tuesday’s 5-1 home win against St. Louis and will miss anywhere from a month to six weeks but won’t need surgery.
The injury happened midway through the second period, when Gonchar landed awkwardly after taking a hit from David Backes. Gonchar immediately left the ice after the play.
“It’s an unfortunate break,” coach Dan Bylsma said Wednesday. “It wasn’t a hard hit, it wasn’t a late hit.
It was a normal hit, (a player) finishing a check. He must have caught him in an unfortunate spot.”
Gonchar is tied for second among all NHL defensemen with 8 points (two goals, six assists), is tied for second in team scoring with Sidney Crosby and leads the team with an average of more than 24 minutes of ice time per game (more than three more than any other defenseman on the team). Veteran Martin Skoula, who has yet to dress for a game, will replace Gonchar in the lineup and make his season debut on Friday against Florida – bet on the game at WagerWeb.com.
The Pens’ 8-1-0 record might make it seem this injury is no big deal, but Gonchar is one of the best offensive defensemen in the league, and Pittsburgh has been just so-so on the power play, which Gonchar captains. The team will rely heavily on defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski now. Letang has five assists and a plus-3 rating this season, while Goligoski is fourth on the team with seven points and leads Pittsburgh with a plus-9 rating.
Gonchar also missed 56 games last year with a dislocated shoulder suffered in the preseason. The Penguins were 27-24-5 without Gonchar in the lineup (the power play was in the bottom third of the league) and 18-4-4 after he returned. Of course the Pens went on to win the Stanley Cup.
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