The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that defenseman John Ludvig will not return to tonight’s game against the Dallas Stars. The 23-year-old rookie left the game with an injury after laying a hit on Dallas forward Radek Faksa. The two men appeared to bump heads at high speed as Ludvig stepped up to complete a check. Faksa was able to bounce back up from the hit while Ludvig fell to the ice face-first and did not move.
The good news is that Ludvig was able to leave the ice under his own power, however, the Kamloops, British Columbia native didn’t look steady on his skates as he was escorted by teammates to the bench. It was a sad ending to what was a special night for Ludvig as tonight’s game was his NHL debut.
Ludvig spent three years in the AHL after being drafted in the third round of the 2019 NHL entry draft by the Florida Panthers. The Penguins claimed him off waivers prior to the start of the season and have kept him with the big club, although he had only practiced with the team prior to tonight. Today he was inserted into the lineup to replace healthy scratch Chad Ruhwedel.
The Penguins have offered no update on Ludvig’s condition yet and are saying that they will provide updates at a later time. The young defender had shown aggressiveness and physicality during his limited time on the ice, and it was something the Penguins desperately needed to add to their lineup. Hopefully, for both Ludvig and the Penguins he will be okay and able to get back into the lineup sooner than later.
Knew it was bad when the TV wouldn’t show it, only the horrified faces of everyone else.
The logic of dressing a guy for his first game and a guy for his second game after tearing into your team creating a de facto (near) must win game escapes me, though.
@66TheNumberOfTheBest – The Old Two-Niner and Mearsy sounded mortified when that happened. Admittedly, it’s not the norm for a guy trying to deliver a big hit to come out on the bad end of it. Hopefully, he’ll get a chance to heal from this and not be rushed back.
Guentzel – Crosby – Rakell
Smith – Malkin – Zohorna
DOC – Eller – Rust
Rust is playing well, but the line with Sid is stale. See if Sid can get Rakell going and if Rust can help elevate the third line from subpar to useful. Zohorna makes things happen, give him a chance with Geno.