After demotion to 3rd pairing, Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin vows 'I can be better'

It was a bold decision at a critical moment.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were in the midst of what was close to a must-win scenario.

Coach Mike Sullivan made the decision, and it paid off almost immediately.

In Game 6 of a second-round series in 2016 against the hated Washington Capitals, All-Star defenseman Kris Letang was teamed on the top pairing with Brian Dumoulin, a rising young defender in his first full NHL season.

They had rarely been paired before that. Dumoulin primarily had played with Ben Lovejoy, and Letang mostly had skated with Olli Maatta.

Despite no notable track record with one another, Letang and Dumoulin were given the considerable task of facing Capitals superstar forward Alex Ovechkin.

And it worked out. Ovechkin was limited to two assists, each on the power play. In terms of puck possession, it was a draw, with each side accounting for 11 shot attempts, for and against per Natural Stat Trick.

By the end of the night, the Penguins won 4-3 in overtime thanks to a goal by forward Nick Bonino, and they won that series 4-2. In the process, they found a new top pairing they would lean on for the next half decade and change, excluding any health-related absences.

So it’s somewhat poetic that this bond has been broken up, perhaps just temporarily, as the Penguins face the rival Capitals on Wednesday in search of a sorely needed victory.

On Tuesday, the Penguins, in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, elected to shuffle all three of their defensive pairings and their bottom two lines in practice at their facility in Cranberry a day before they face the Capitals in the nation’s capital.

The most notable change was at the top of the ticket as Letang skated with Marcus Pettersson while Dumoulin was relegated to the third pairing, primarily working with Jan Rutta (with a side of reserve Chad Ruhwedel sprinkled in).

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The second pairing had P.O Joseph teamed with Jeff Petry.

Up front, the third line was composed of Brock McGinn, Jeff Carter and Danton Heinen, and the fourth line included rookie Filip Hallander, Ryan Poehling and Josh Archibald.

A “fifth” line had rookie Sam Poulin, the injured Teddy Blueger and a disappointing Kasperi Kapanen.

Having gone more than two weeks since their last win Oct. 22, no change is too drastic for the Penguins. Including their tried-and-true top pairing of Dumoulin and Letang.

“We’ve got to right the ship here,” Dumoulin said. “We’ve got to get some consistency. Obviously, we haven’t been getting the results in these last few games. Obviously, we’ve been doing some good things, but at this point now, we can’t just be checking those boxes. We’ve got to start winning them.”

While no one in a Penguins jersey — all four of the varieties the franchise now wears in the pursuit of hockey-related revenue — is in a position to brag about their play over this hideous seven-game stretch, Dumoulin’s play has stood out. And for no good reason.

Overall this season, the Penguins have been outscored 23-11 when Dumoulin is on the ice. The two most recent goals against came during a 3-2 home loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, including the winning score by former Penguins forward Brandon Tanev.

Dumoulin attempted to block the pass that set up Tanev’s score but wasn’t able to provide a sufficient impediment on the sequence.

The 10th-year veteran doesn’t shirk responsibility for his subpar play.

“Obviously, I can be better,” Dumoulin said. “I haven’t been turning the puck over, but I think I can make that big play defensively a little bit more, whether it be on a two-on-one (rush) or at a time and place in the game. I feel like I can step up and make that defensive play that can be the difference between winning and losing right now.”

Dumoulin’s willingness to acknowledge his shortcomings this season is a trait Sullivan lauded after practice.

“We all have high expectations of (Dumoulin),” Sullivan said. “He’s a great player. He’s a great pro. He’s been a great Pittsburgh Penguin for a long time. We have high expectations of him. No one has higher expectations of him than himself. One of the things we always admire about (Dumoulin) and his character is that he takes ownership for his own game and he takes responsibility for trying to bring his very best. There’s no doubt that I know he’ll work through it. That just speaks to the character of the individual. We all have expectations of him because his body of work as a Pittsburgh Penguin is impressive.”

Dumoulin, presumably, will work with Rutta in Wednesday’s game. He compared Rutta to one of his former defensive partners.

“He’s very reliable, very consistent,” Dumoulin said. “And he’s simple, which is nice. I played with a guy back in the day like Ben Lovejoy. You remember him. He’s hard to play against. He’s hard defensively. He doesn’t get beat too often. There’s some similar attributes in that.”

Regardless of how he is deployed, Dumoulin remains one of the team’s leaders, even if he doesn’t have an accompanying letter sewn to his jersey.

“After (a 4-1 road loss to the Calgary Flames on Oct. 25), I wasn’t happy with how I played,” backup goaltender Casey DeSmith said. “He came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, you played great.’ I was like, ‘No I didn’t.’ He was like, ‘You did. You’re fine.’ He’s just always somebody who will lend an ear to you or put a hand on your shoulder if you’re feeling down.”

Most of Dumoulin’s play has been down to this point of the season. He accepts responsibility for that and professes an expectation to correct those malfunctions.

“Obviously, you have to weigh percentages and threats and who’s the bigger threat and what’s the most likely that will turn into a goal,” Dumoulin said. “A lot of stuff goes into that. In a split second, you’re trying to make that decision. In the end, that’s a decision between possibly a goal and possibly not. At that point, you’ve just got to make a better read and trust my instincts a little bit more defensively.”

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