Yeah, absolutely.
Not that I dont want us to have a healthy Geno and all that he brings, but let's state the obvious: this team absolutely thrives on "A big name is out, we gotta pick up the slack every shift". We saw it alot the last two years in the regular season and we saw it in 2017.
At the very least, I dont think the Pens' effort or focus is going to dip when we're still shorthanded. And like you said, coming in to the playoffs with a clean bill of health in the past (or at least playing guys who are still nursing injuries) hasnt exactly gone well.