Penguins find success with John Marino-Marcus Pettersson duo

His first visit to Boston as an NHL player was unique.

On Nov. 4, Penguins rookie defenseman John Marino played his first game in front of several family members and friends from North Easton, Mass. who trekked north to TD Garden and saw their son/brother/cousin/guy they played with in sixth grade, etc. score his first career goal in a 6-4 loss to the Bruins.

It was a spectacular breakaway goal that gave the Penguins a lead.

Despite the defeat, that night was special for obvious reasons.

His second game in Boston, on Thursday, was different in that it will be a little bit more routine.

“A little more experienced, playing more games and whatnot,” said Marino, who was paired with Jack Johnson in November. “Having already gone home and played in front of family and friends, maybe a little more comfortable.”

There also was a 6-foot-4 difference positioned to his left for this game.

For the past 13 contests, Marino has been paired with Marcus Pettersson, the team’s tallest defenseman. Like so many of the team’s current lines, pairs and special teams units, the Marino-Pettersson duo was born out of necessity because of injuries, namely the undisclosed ailment that has sidelined veteran defenseman Justin Schultz since Dec. 17.

“They’ve got a pretty good two-way game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Marino and Pettersson, the team’s second pairing. “They’re good offensively, and they defend hard. They both have long reaches. They’re mobile guys. They’re just a safe, reliable pair. But I think their game has really grown offensively, both of them. They make good outlet passes. They’re active off that offensive blue line.”

General manager Jim Rutherford’s opinion of the duo goes even further. During his radio show with team broadcaster Josh Getzoff last week, Rutherford suggested they could one day be a No. 1 pairing and speculated they could be together as long as 15 years, or at the start of captain Sidney Crosby’s third decade in the NHL.

For the time being, the defensemen, each in their early 20s, are focused on the immediate task at hand.

“We’re pretty similar players, puck-moving (defensemen),” the 22-year-old Marino said. “We both kind of know where each other are. He’s a great player. A lot of talk out there. He makes it pretty easy.”

“He’s an easy guy to play with,” said Pettersson, 23. “He reads the game well. So you’re not surprised at where he is on the ice, and you can kind of go from there. You can kind of make — I wouldn’t say blind passes breaking out — but you can bump it off the wall because you know he’s going to be on one side of you and stuff like that. The more you play with each other, the more you get comfortable with one another.”

To label Pettersson the “graybeard” of the duo would be misleading given his youth, but considering he’s the only one of the two who appears capable of growing a beard, he could be seen as the grizzled veteran of the partnership as he has logged 153 career games over four seasons. Meanwhile, the cherubic Marino is 45 contests into his rookie season.

At the same time, Pettersson doesn’t see a need to play with Marino any differently compared to a veteran such as Schultz, his regular partner to start the season.

“He hasn’t played like (a rookie) since his first day in the league, so I don’t think I have to treat him any differently,” Pettersson said. “He’s a smart guy, and he’s easy to play with. You don’t have to treat him like (a rookie).”

Marino, who also works on the second power-play unit partly because of Schultz’s absence, has seen his offensive production pick up while playing with Pettersson. In their 12 games together before Thursday, Marino has eight assists (0.66 points per game).

During the preceding 32 games, Marino recorded 15 points (four goals, 11 points) for an average of 0.46 points per contest.

“If you want to be aggressive or jump up or something, he’s pretty quick,” Marino said. “He’s got that long reach, so he’s able to recover when you want to get aggressive or get caught (up ice).”

Additionally, the dynamic of a left-handed and right-handed shot is ideal on defense.

“That helps out a lot,” Marino said. “Especially on the offensive blue line, going ‘D-to-D’ (passes) and playing behind our own net, too. Just little things like that.”

With a blue line also missing its top defensive entity in Brian Dumoulin because of a left ankle injury, Marino and Pettersson have provided big things over the past month.

“We like their solid two-way game,” Sullivan said. “They’re hard to play against by nature of their reach and their mobility. They’ve been pretty good since they’ve been together.”

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