WINNIPEG, Manitoba — No one could talk about the elephant in the room at MTS Centre, but maybe that’s because Tom Sestito isn’t the size of an elephant in scope or reality.
Not quite, anyway.
He stands 6 feet 5, 228 pounds, and his NHL resume over 149 games is overwhelmed by 475 penalty minutes and 54 fighting majors, compared to 10 goals and 10 assists. And if all that’s added up, whether one subscribes to the new or old schools on hockey enforcing, it sends a sizable message on the part of the Penguins — maybe specifically to the Jets, their opponent here Wednesday night — that they won’t show up with a curling broom to a gunfight.
“It catches your attention a little bit,” the Jets’ Chris Thorburn was saying Wednesday morning. “I’d probably be the only one to address that.”
That’s because Thorburn, formerly of the Penguins, fills the same role for Winnipeg.
So yeah, couple that with the brutal cheap-shot fest between these teams Feb. 16 in Pittsburgh, in which three players sustained significant injuries — two from the Penguins, one from the Jets — and it’s welcome back to 1975, everyone!
Right, Winnipeg Sun?
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
For what it’s worth given hockey’s history of posturing on such metters, both teams’ coaches rejected that out of hand, even while acknowledging they expect it to be physical.
“We always want to stay out of the extracurricular stuff,” Mike Sullivan said. “They’re a physical team, they’ve got speed, and our players are well aware of what to expect and the type of game that’s going to be played. We need to play our game. I just think that’s part of the identity of our group, that we play the game that gives us the best chance to win. That’s making sure that we maintain the necessary focus to dictate the terms out there and play to our strengths.”
And did the previous meeting influence the Sestito recall?
“No. Tommy’s been playing extremely well down there in Wilkes-Barre for us. He’s played a number of games for us this year. He certainly brings a physical element to our team. He’s a good teammate. I know our guys really enjoy him. And he’s a guy I think can help us win.”
Sullivan’s counterpart sounded all the same notes.
“To compete with a team like Pittsburgh, you’ve got to skate with them,” Paul Maurice said. “And other than Nik Ehlers, we’ve got some some size behind our speed. And we’re going to finish our checks. But we don’t want our guys skating 15 extra feet to make some kind of point. We’re not in that position. And I don’t think they’re that kind of team, either.”
Sestito, 29, has one assist and 24 penalty minutes in eight NHL games this season, as well as six goals, 10 assists and 136 penalty minutes in 33 AHL games. So Sullivan’s assessment of his general play in the minors isn’t without merit.
Though he did flash his standard sense of humor when asked after the skate about this callup:
Ha!
Well, suffice it to say Sestito knows why he’s been summoned. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and other players on the Penguins know it, too, based on countless conversations they’ve had with DKPittsburghSports.com over the season.
What’s more, they very much appreciate it, even more than the captain lets on:
Late last season, Crosby signed a stick for Sestito’s newborn with the following: “I felt 10 feet taller when your dad was on the ice.”
“He’d do anything for his teammates,” Chad Ruhwedel said, referring also to their time together in Wilkes-Barre. “And he can play, too, which is a bonus. It’s always good to have him on your side. He’s a force out there.”
The sentiment for Sestito runs deep in the room, much more than having him around to brace for a bruising opponent like Winnipeg. Sullivan has resisted that over his tenure, most strikingly last season when the Penguins were being bullied repeatedly by the Blue Jackets, but he’s shown tangible — if not verbal — signs of softening that stance.
This meeting does stand out, though. Despite public denials, the Jets are embittered by Malkin’s high head shot that felled their captain, Blake Wheeler, and the Penguins remain equally livid over a Dustin Byfuglien hit that concussed Justin Schultz and an Adam Lowry run that still has Olli Maatta out with a hand injury.
“We just have to play our game,” Crosby said.
The Jets, five points out of the playoff picture in the West, emphasized that above all.
“The games are too important to be going out there for retribution and things like that,” Lowry said. “We just expect an intense game. They are a real good team over there, they play fast, they play hard and one of the ways you can combat that is playing physical and playing hard on their good players. Unfortunately, the last time we played them a couple of guys got hurt. That was not our intention in here, but hockey’s a physical game and things like that happen. I don’t expect there to be too much running around or cheap play.”
