P.O Joseph, John Ludvig find rhythm as Penguins continue tinkering on blue line

Several parallels are visible when comparing the seasons of Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen P.O Joseph and John Ludvig.

Joseph, 24, and Ludvig, 23, have landed on injured reserve this year and navigated stretches of being out of the lineup as healthy scratches.

While Joseph, in his fourth NHL campaign, has an edge in career games played (130) to the rookie Ludvig’s 27, both players continue at working to carve out an everyday role with the Penguins.

With one goal and four assists between them through 60 combined games played entering Thursday’s contest against the San Jose Sharks, the contributions of Joseph and Ludvig to date had been more on the subtle side.

But during the Penguins’ 6-3 win over San Jose at PPG Paints Arena, Joseph and Ludvig stepped into starring roles, helping generate a considerable portion of their club’s offensive output that helped deliver a much-needed win.

Ludvig finished the night with a goal — the second of his young NHL career — and an assist, and Joseph notched his fourth and fifth assists of the year.

Joseph’s assists were his first points in 17 games dating to Jan. 22, and Ludvig recorded his first career multi-point game.

The last time Joseph produced a multi-point effort was Feb. 17, 2023.

“I think those guys are competing hard,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “They’re try-ers. I thought (Ludvig) had a real strong game (Thursday, and) P.O made some nice plays along the offensive blue line.”

Ludvig got on the scoresheet first, finding the back of the net at 2 minutes, 38 seconds of the final period by flinging a deep wrister from the point, with Joseph and Reilly Smith collecting assists.

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The goal gave the Penguins a 4-3 lead they did not relinquish.

“We had a bunch of bodies at the net, and P.O made a nice pass over to me,” Ludvig said. “I just tried to make a little move and get it on net. Luckily, it went in.”

Exactly two minutes later, Joseph fired a shot near the blue line that Rickard Rakell managed to deflect with his skate, beating Sharks goalie Magnus Chrona.

Ludvig contributed the secondary assist.

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“We just talked about having more people around the net,” Joseph said. “(Rakell) has been doing a really good job doing it, so we practice a lot of (defenseman) shooting and that was part of it. Ludvig made some good offensive plays there in the third and just a lucky bounce that went in.”

Joseph and Ludvig paired together Thursday night for the third straight game.

The former skated for 15:48 with a shot, two hits and a pair of blocks, and Ludvig had a hit and blocked shot over 14:06 of work.

Both players were on the ice late in the second period when San Jose’s Klim Kostin beat Tristan Jarry on a feed from former Penguin Mikael Granlund to tie the score 3-3.

Chad Ruhwedel’s recent departure via trade to the New York Rangers deprived the Penguins of a right-handed defenseman to play on the third line.

Potentially alleviating that problem is the Penguins’ recall of Jack St. Ivany from Wilkes-Barre-Scranton of the American Hockey League.

St. Ivany, a 24-year-old right-handed shot, would make his NHL debut were he to see any action.

Through 52 games at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this year, he has four goals and eight assists.

“Jack is obviously a right-handed defenseman, so that was one aspect that was part of the conversation,” Sullivan said of the recall. “The other aspect of it is he’s played extremely well. He’s been very good on the penalty kill, he’s a solid defending defenseman, fairly mobile, good size, so I think he’s going to bring that aspect — just a trustworthy, conscientious game — to our team.”

The Penguins hemorrhaging goals and quality looks of late has led to a bit of a revolving door on defense.

Less than a week ago, Joseph had been elevated to the club’s top pairing with Kris Letang, whereas Ludvig was out of the lineup.

Erik Karlsson, Marcus Pettersson and Ryan Graves have shuffled around, as well.

“(Associate coach) Todd (Reirden) has moved the pairs around a lot,” Sullivan said. “So (Joseph and Ludvig) are not strictly playing together. There’s been a fair amount of movement back there by nature of special teams. (Letang) gets a lot of ice and (Karlsson) gets a lot of ice, so there’s a lot of moving parts back there.”