Two days after being showered with affection from his coach, Patric Hornqvist was reduced to two minutes of ice in the third period of Game 5 with a trip to the conference final on the line.
Sidney Crosby's staple at right wing was stapled to the Pittsburgh Penguins' bench in the final frame, as coach Mike Sullivan shortened his rotation in an effort to spur a comeback versus the Washington Capitals.
Following the 3-1 loss in Pittsburgh's first of three potential opportunities to eliminate the Presidents' Trophy winners, Sullivan explained his thinking:
"We were trying to climb back into it," he said, according to Yahoo's Greg Wyshynski, denying there was an injury involved. "We went with the guys we thought were going and had some energy. So we tweaked the lines a little bit."
Tom Kuhnhackl started the period with Crosby and Conor Sheary, and Matt Cullen and Carl Hagelin rotated in as well, helping limit Hornqvist to a little over 10-and-a-half total minutes.
