SULLIVAN SWITCHES DEFENSE PAIRINGS AHEAD OF CAPS GAME

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan yesterday shuffled his defensive pairings, dropping Brian Dumoulin from the top two with Kris Letang to the third pairing and elevating Marcus Pettersson to skate with Letang.

Sullivan said he did it because he likes the steadiness of Pettersson’s game.

Rookie P.O. Joseph was promoted to the second defensive pairing to skate with Jeff Petry while Dumoulin skated with Jan Rutta, with Chad Ruhwedel taking a few shifts on that pairing, too.

The bottom two lines were also mixed up, with Jeff Carter on the third line centering Brock McGinn and Danton Heinen and the fourth line featuring Ryan Poehling between rookie Filip Hallander and Josh Archibald. Kasperi Kapanen was dropped to a fifth line with rookie Sam Poulin and Teddy Blueger, who is still working back from injury.

The Penguins worked on the power play again yesterday. Sullivan says they have to shoot more and the players realize it.

Stuck in a seven-game losing streak, the coach says the Penguins need only to look to center and captain Sidney Crosby to see the correct approach to breaking out of the slump.