Penguins lose Schultz, Rust as injuries continue to pile up

Repeating as Stanley Cup champions is hard enough. Doing it without key contributors makes it even harder.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were dealt another couple of injury blows Monday, as Justin Schultz was lost to an apparent shoulder injury. Here's how it happened:

The incident occurred after Ottawa Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf obliterated forward Bryan Rust with a devastating - but clean - hit on a Penguins rush.

Rust went to the room, and neither he or Schultz returned to the game. Head coach Mike Sullivan offered no update on their condition - or Patric Hornqvist's - after the game.

The Penguins are already missing Kris Letang and Trevor Daley on defense, so Schultz's loss for any period of time will be a huge one.

Schultz went into Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final averaging 21:10 of ice time in the playoffs - tops on the team. He played only 3:40 before being hurt, and Sullivan had no choice but to lean on his five remaining defenders.

Here's how the ice time broke down after a 1-0 Pens win:

*Not including Monday's game.

Sullivan's done a great job of spreading the ice time around on the back end throughout the postseason, but he was forced to ride Dumoulin, Hainsey, and Ruhwedel on Monday, and they delivered.

Ruhwedel finished with a 72.41 percent Corsi For rating, tops among all Pittsburgh defensemen.