The Penguins are back on the ice tonight to meet their Metro Division rivals, the New York Islanders. The Pens have lost four of their last five games, including Sunday’s 2-1 defeat by the LA Kings. The Islanders have lost three in a row.
At practice yesterday in Cranberry, coach Mike Sullivan shuffled personnel on his second and third lines and on the blue line.
The second line featured Geno Malkin, Drew O’Connor, and newly-acquired Matthew Phillips. Reilly Smith and rookie Valtteri Puustinen skated with lars Eller on the third line.
The shakeup on the blue line had a top pairing of Kris Letang and P.O. Joseph, with Marcus Pettersson pairing up with Erik Karlsson, and Ryan Graves with Chad Ruhwedel.
Coach Mike Sullivan said after practice he is looking for a spark.
Sullivan says the Penguins have a ton of weapons offensively, but they’ve been firing blanks for a while. He says coaching offense is hard.
Sullivan believes Erik Karlsson is a key for the Pens. He says the two-time Norris Trophy winner still hasn’t found the top of his game.
The Penguins recalled goaltender Magnus Hellberg from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on an emergency basis yesterday when one of the regular goalies wasn’t feeling well. Sullivan didn’t say who it was, but Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic both practiced, so Hellberg joined injured forwards Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto for a pre-practice skate.
Tonight’s airtime is 6 PM, with faceoff shortly after 7 on 92.5 FM U92.
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