Joseph Blandisi had a simple goal Sunday.
Sleeping in.
“I’m hoping,” Blandisi said. “I’m hoping. We’ll see what happens, though.”
As it turned out, nothing happened to Blandisi on Sunday morning. He didn’t have to go anywhere for the first time in four days and was in position to engage in some well-deserved slumbering.
Over the previous three days, he had been moved between the Penguins’ NHL and AHL rosters with a series of transactions.
That led to a lot of time in cars traversing the Rust Belt, and as a result of coincidental meshing of the AHL and NHL schedules, Blandisi ended up playing four games in four days.
To wit:
• Wednesday, Blandisi recorded three shots and two penalty minutes for the AHL Penguins in a 4-2 road loss to the Rochester Americans at Blue Cross Arena.
• Thursday, Blandisi had one shot against the Blue Jackets in a 1-0 overtime win at PPG Paints Arena.
• Friday, he recorded two penalty minutes in a 4-0 road loss to the Cleveland Monsters at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
• Saturday, Blandisi had two penalty minutes in a 5-4 shootout win against the Los Angeles Kings at PPG Paints Arena.
Over the past week, Blandisi was like Johnny Cash. He had been everywhere, man … provided “everywhere” was limited to upstate New York, northeastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania.
That meant a lot of hours in a vehicle and not attending to the business of being a professional hockey. In other words, little sleep and even less working out or watching film.
“Obviously, you get some aches and pains, especially from all the travel and sitting in that same position for quite a while,” Blandisi said. “I’m doing the best I can to stay on top of it. And obviously the staff here (Pittsburgh) and in Wilkes-Barre has been great giving me everything I need to have success. Kudos to them for helping me out.”
The Penguins initially recalled Blandisi from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday morning under emergency conditions — a designation that can impact the next time Blandisi would need to clear waivers for any potential future recalls or assignments — because forward Evgeni Malkin was sidelined by illness. Blandisi made the trek to Pittsburgh a few hours after traveling with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins from Rochester, N.Y., to Cleveland.
The following morning, he was returned to the AHL Penguins, who were still in Cleveland.
When it became apparent Malkin’s malady was lingering, Blandisi was recalled under emergency conditions Saturday morning.
Though it hardly was an ideal scenario, Blandisi is grateful to be wanted.
“Anytime you get an opportunity to help two teams, I think it’s a blessing,” said Blandisi, a sixth-round pick of the Colorado Avalanche in 2012. “At one point in my career, I didn’t know if I would ever play a professional hockey game. So I think four games in four nights definitely isn’t something to complain about.”
It’s definitely something to consider remarkable, however. Even when he played as an adolescent, a time in life when doubleheaders and weekend tournaments are common, Blandisi said he could not recall playing so many games in such a short period of time.
“That’s a lot of hockey for sure,” Blandisi said. “Especially, high-paced hockey. Tight games. The margin for error is pretty tight. I’m just trying to do the best I can mentally and physically and trying to get the most I can out of my body.”
Said goaltender Tristan Jarry: “I was in that position two years ago. Just going back and forth a lot. It’s just something that you can’t really prepare for. You have to be ready at the same time that you could get the call.”
It remains to be seen if the Penguins will keep Blandisi on the roster as they embark on a three-game swing of Western Canada. If for no other reason than the considerable logistical challenge of getting a human being from the Poconos to the Canadian Rockies, keeping a 13th forward on the NHL roster would be convenient in the event of an injury, illness or other absence among the top 12.
He certainly appears to have the endorsement of coach Mike Sullivan for such a role.
“Joseph has done a real nice job for us,” Sullivan said. “He’s a straight-line player, he skates well, he’s strong on pucks, he can play the center-ice position, he can play the wing, he brings a lot of energy for us. He’s played a safe, reliable, trustworthy game, and that’s what we’re asking.”
They asked quite a bit of him over the course of 96 hours last week.
“Four days,” Blandisi said. “I haven’t played four professional games over four days of my career. This was definitely a first. But it’s all good stuff.”
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Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .