Ruutu mischievous on and off the ice

It's possible Jarkko Ruutu was behind it the other day when Penguins captain Sidney Crosby finished using a towel only to find himself covered in powder.

Ruutu also might have had a hand in a recent prank in which rookie defenseman Kris Letang nearly missed a team flight because someone had sewn shut the sleeves and pant legs of his suit.

"We have more than one guy who's good at that kind of stuff," Crosby said yesterday after the team practiced at Southpointe before flying to Florida to face the Panthers tonight.

You can tell by his devilish smile that Ruutu enjoys such shenanigans, even if he isn't the only one on the team capable of pulling them.

He's also not the only guy who can lay out an opponent.

Or the only guy who will fight.

Or draw someone into a retaliation penalty.

Or kick in a little offense.

The Penguins don't have anyone else quite like Ruutu, though.

He's an agitator extraordinaire, the type of player who is loved as a teammate, despised as an opponent.

"I hope so," Ruutu said. "I try to be."

The Penguins like him in black and gold.

"When he's on your team, you know he's going to make it tough on other guys every night," Crosby said. "He works hard and plays in a lot of situations. He's great to have on your side."

The 32-year-old winger spent most of his career in Vancouver, where he was a fan favorite and even the subject of a song. Since signing with the Penguins in July 2006, he has developed enough of a following that a chorus of "Ruuuuu" rains down when he grabs attention at Mellon Arena.

"At first you thought someone was getting booed, but it's something special," said Erik Christensen, who sits near Ruutu in the locker room and lately has been his center, since Ruutu was moved up to replace injured winger Gary Roberts.

If Christensen is laughing, it's possibly because of some deadpan utterance that came from Ruutu.

"A lot of the Finnish guys are known for being laid-back, kind of funny guys, and that's just the way he is," Christensen said. "He says a lot of funny things.

"That's the way he plays, too. He's kind of carefree and willing to mix it up. That's fun to him."

Christensen isn't sure if he was the root of a tremendous, rock-em, sock-em Ruutu fight last week against Toronto's Darcy Tucker.

"Tucker came over and grabbed my jersey. A couple shifts later, he got in a fight with Jarkko," he said. "It was the best fight of the year."

The shiner on Ruutu's left eye had blossomed into a deep purple badge by yesterday -- and he was the winner in the fight.

"Sometimes it turns the game around, or at least brings a little bit of energy," Ruutu said. "It doesn't have to be a fight. It could be a big hit or a goal or anything to get something going."

He got way under the skin of Chris Simon of the New York Islanders last month. Simon stomped on Ruutu's foot, an incident that brought Simon an NHL-record 30-game suspension.

Ruutu doesn't talk about that. He likes to stick to more pleasant topics.

"I'm trying to be a happy guy," he said.

Ruutu has four assists and no goals, although he had a deciding goal in a shootout in a 6-5 win at Ottawa Nov. 22, a game that sparked the Penguins' current 15-5 run. "I love the pressure in situations like that," he said.

Although he has never had more than 10 goals in an NHL season and contributes in other ways -- for instance, lately he has been killing penalties -- it bothers him some that he hasn't scored this season.

But only a little.

"For me it's never been so much about the scoring," Ruutu said. "You have to play defense and you have to play physical and create energy for a team. It never hurts to chip in offensively, though."

Those who play against him, who get the smirk or a face-washing from his glove or a thundering hit, can attest to Ruutu's effect even when he's not scoring.

Goaltender Ty Conklin, who used to play in Edmonton, saw it many times.

"When we played against him when he was in Vancouver, he didn't have any fans on our team, but certainly he's a guy you love having on your team," Conklin said.

"You've got to get to know him. Once you do, his true character comes out."

Character that sometimes leads Ruutu to have a little harmless fun at his teammates' expense when there are no opponents to pester.

"I've done pranks sometimes," he said, "but I never get caught."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08008/847520-61.stm