Tony DeAngelo was reinserted into the lineup for Friday’s match in Pittsburgh after an enforced two-game leave of absence that followed poor on-ice behavior in the season opener.
“He’s in a good place,” David Quinn said of DeAngelo before the Blueshirts’ 4-3 shootout defeat to the Penguins. “He understood. One of the things I think he said to one of the guys when [the second game] ended was, ‘I kind of know what’s going to happen now. It’s going to be tough to take anyone out of the lineup.’ ”
The second game was a 5-0 victory over the Islanders in which DeAngelo was a disciplinary scratch, after incurring an early third-period unsportsmanlike conduct infraction for yapping and slamming the penalty box door in conjunction with a holding penalty in the opening night 4-0 defeat to the same opponent.
DeAngelo was replaced by Brendan Smith, who remained in place for Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the Devils. Smith took a seat for this one, scratched to accommodate DeAngelo’s return.
“Tony understood the situation. It was not my intention for it to be a two-game situation,” Quinn said. “He knows that, and we’ve had conversations regarding that. He’s ready to move past it. I’m ready to move past it. He’s learned from it.
“Obviously, he’s been a big part of what we’ve had going on here for the last year-plus, so he knows how committed we are to him.”
DeAngelo got 17:32 of ice while paired with Jack Johnson, the tandem on for both of the Penguins’ even-strength goals. DeAngelo played on the second power play unit, with Adam Fox remaining on the point on the first unit that had been No. 77’s province last season and in the opener.
Julien Gauthier, who skated through camp and in Game 1 with Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere before being dropped to the fourth line for the second and third contests, was scratched for this one in favor of Kevin Rooney.
Gauthier, the 23-year-old who played the final 12 games of last year’s regular season with the Blueshirts after having been acquired from Carolina in exchange for Joey Keane last Feb. 18, had averaged 8:35 of ice time through the first week. He had not recorded a point while carrying a minus-two rating.
“It’s our job to let him know why he’s coming out of the lineup, show him why, and hopefully he learns from that,” Quinn said of the 2016 first-rounder selected 21st overall by the ’Canes. “He’s a guy who’s got a lot of physical talent, and you can see why he’s been so highly thought of and effective throughout his career.”
“But it’s a little bit different at this level. A lot of great players never had to play in structure and understand all these different elements of the game it takes to be successful here. A lot of these guys are pure scorers, and that’s all they’ve kind of judged their game on.
“There are a lot of great scorers out there who get to the National Hockey League, and they’re not scorers any more, so they have to find a different way to affect the game,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t think he can score at this level, I think he can, but there are other things he’s going to have to do, shift-in and shift-out.”
Gauthier has not scored a goal in 20 NHL games, including a five-game cameo in Carolina last year. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound right wing has collected three assists while averaging a cumulative 8:20 of ice time.
The shootout ended with DeAngelo, a career 3-for-7 entering the competition, stuffed in the bottom of the third inning by Tristan Jarry. Mika Zibanejad, 24-for-52 into this one, was beaten in the leadoff spot before Artemi Panarin made it a gaudy career 10-for-15 by scoring off a quick move.
The Penguins got goals from Jake Guentzel in the first and Kris Letang in the third, both on backhands, to spoil Igor Shesterkin’s first NHL shootout.
Lafreniere played 15:06 but did not get a shift in overtime. Chris Kreider only got one shift, the same number as Phillip Di Giuseppe.
Blueshirts’ next game is in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
