Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is still trying to find his way around his new surroundings.

Even to a granular level.

On Thursday, after an optional morning skate at PPG Paints Arena, he took off his elbow pads and began to stack them on the shelf of a locker stall in the home dressing room.

The only problem was the nameplate below the shelf said “P.O Joseph.”

Kulikov quickly realized his mistake and tucked his gear into his stall immediately adjacent to Joseph, a fellow defenseman.

“Still trying to figure it out,” Kulikov chortled.

The left-handed Kulikov is still trying to figure out his current station on the Penguins’ third defensive pairing with right-handed Jan Rutta.

With Kulikov acquired in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on March 3, the duo debuted by Tuesday in a 5-4 overtime home win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

They got off to a rocky start as they were on the ice for the second of four goals the Blue Jackets scored to open the contest.

After an offensive zone turnover by Rutta, Kulikov made an honest but futile effort to hustle back toward his cage as Blue Jackets forward Lane Peterson scored.

“I didn’t help (Kulikov) very much,” Rutta said. “Made it pretty hard for him. I’ll do everything I can to make it easier for him (Thursday at home against the New York Islanders).”

As the game progressed, the pair stabilized and their possession metrics wound up in the black by nearly double. Per Natural Stat Trick, Kulikov and Rutta were on the ice for 15 shot attempts for and eight against during 10:10 of common five-on-five ice time.

“Just a tough start at the beginning,” Kulikov said. “It’s tough when you’re playing in our kind of role or position when a team goes down three goals that early in the game. Just try to get out there and stop the momentum of the other team. As the game went on, we started to play pretty good, taking care of our zone and helping out in the (offensive) zone.”

Neither player is a threat to break any offensive scoring records for defenseman, as both are relied upon to be stout defensive presences with a dash of physical play. But do they constitute a “shutdown pair” similar to the likes of former Penguins such as Hall Gill and Rob Scuderi or Kjell and Ulf Samuelsson (no relation)?

Do “shutdown pairs” even exist in the modern NHL, where defensemen often are asked to join the offensive attack?

Coach Mike Sullivan was hesitant to label Kulikov and Rutta as such. But he did offer some thoughts on the relevancy of “shutdown pairs” in the NHL of 2023.

“It’s all based on your personnel group and the type of identity you have as a team,” Sullivan said. “There are some teams that utilize matchups in that regard. Some teams are more concerned about matchups than other teams. It all depends on a coaching staff’s philosophy, and I think a lot of that is based on the personnel they have and trying to maximize the group that they have situationally. It’s not an easy question to answer.”

The question remains if Kulikov and Rutta will have any staying power as the team’s third pairing regardless of how their duties are labeled. But they see a lot of similarities in one another they feel can be complementary.

“He’s really solid,” Rutta said of Kulikov. “Really experienced. He reads the game well. He’s really good at breaking up passes. Obviously, really good at defending.”

Kulikov offered a similar scouting report of his new partner.

“Every player is a little bit different,” Kulikov said of Rutta. “He’s a good player. You can see the compete level. He’s minded in the way that I am too, the way that we play the game.”

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