Pittsburgh Penguins forward Blake Lizotte is expected to return to the lineup for Thursday’s contest against the Buffalo Sabres at PPG Paints Arena after missing one game due to an undisclosed injury.
Lizotte was a full participant in a morning skate in Cranberry. Afterward, coach Dan Muse indicated Lizotte still needs final clearance from the team’s medical staff but indicated a return by Lizotte “looks like it’s heading in that direction.”
Typically deployed as the fourth-line center, Lizotte was scratched during a 2-1 road loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
In 49 games this season, Lizotte has scored 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) while averaging 13:47 of ice time per contest, including 2:26 on the penalty kill.
The left-handed Lizotte has taken the third-most faceoffs on the team this season (418), winning 50.5% of them.
Notes:
• Penguins rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs is scheduled to start Thursday’s game.
In 28 games this season, Silovs has a 13-7-8 record, a 2.75 goals-against average, a .901 save percentage and two shutouts.
Silovs has played the Sabres only once in his career. That happened one month ago in a 5-2 road win Feb. 5. In that contest, Silovs made 26 saves on 28 shots.
• The Penguins’ lines and pairings during the morning skate were:
59 Egor Chinakhov – 18 Tommy Novak – 71 Evgeni Malkin
85 Avery Hayes – 67 Rickard Rakell – 17 Bryan Rust
39 Anthon Mantha – 81 Ben Kindel – 16 Justin Brazeau
19 Connor Dewar – 46 Blake Lizotte – 55 Noel Acciari
28 Parker Wotherspoon – 65 Erik Karlsson
49 Sam Girard – 58 Kris Letang
5 Ryan Shea – 75 Connor Clifton
• The top power-play unit included Karlsson, Malkin, Mantha, Rakell and Rust. The second power-play unit involved Brazeau, Chinakhov, Kindel, Letang and Novak.
• Defensemen Ryan Graves and Ilya Solovyov, as well as forward Kevin Hayes, operated as reserves.
• Forward Sidney Crosby, currently designated to injured reserve due to a suspected right leg injury, continued to skate beforehand. Muse indicated there was no update available on his status.
• Rookie forward Filip Hallander was recalled to the NHL roster last week following a conditioning assignment with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Currently designated to injured reserve due to a blood clot in an unspecified leg, Hallander was recalled for further evaluation of his ailment according to Muse.
• Letang has 799 career points.
• Girard has 198 career assists.
• Rakell has 297 career assists.
• The Sabres are expected to start goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. In 23 games this season, the Luukkonen has a 13-7-2 record, a 2.62 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.
Luukkonen previously played the Penguins in a 4-2 road loss Nov. 26. He made 15 saves in 18 shots during that contest.
• According to the Buffalo News, the Sabres’ lines and pairings during their morning skate at PPG Paints Arena were:
19 Peyton Krebs – 72 Tage Thompson – 89 Alex Tuch
17 Jason Zucker – 71 Ryan McLeod – 22 Jack Quinn
86 Noah Ostlund – 9 Josh Norris – 91 Josh Doan
6 Zach Benson – 44 Josh Dunne – 29 Beck Malenstyn
23 Mattias Samuelsson – 26 Rasmus Dahlin
4 Bowen Byram – 25 Owen Power
73 Zach Metsa – 8 Michael Kesselring
• Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram has 98 career assists.
• The scheduled referees are Furman South (No. 13) and Brandon Blandina (No. 39), while the linespersons are Jonny Murray (No 95) and Ben O’Quinn (No. 91).