The Pittsburgh Penguins are scheduled to scratch a number of their more prominent players for the final home game of the regular season, a meeting with the rival Washington Capitals at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
Citing undisclosed injuries, the team announced the following players will not be in the lineup:
Forwards – Sidney Crosby, Ben Kindel, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust
Defensemen – Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Parker Wotherspoon
With three games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Penguins have nothing to gain or lose as far as their postseason hopes are concerned. On Thursday, they secured second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Carolina Hurricanes clinched first place.
Coach Dan Muse declined to say if the Penguins plan on scratching those players for their final two games of the regular season, road contests against the Capitals on Sunday and against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
“We’re going to get through today’s game,” Muse said, approximately two hours before the opening faceoff of Saturday’s contest. “I’ll have conversations with our medical staff and we’ll make determinations going into tomorrow.”
With those players sidelined, the Penguins recalled forwards Ville Koivunen, Joona Koppanen and Rutger McGroarty from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Saturday.
Forward Blake Lizotte will miss his 14th consecutive game due to an undisclosed injury. Muse indicated Lizotte is “progressing” in his recovery.
Pittsburgh Penguins rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs is scheduled to start Saturday’s game against the Washington Capitals at PPG Paints Arena.
Additionally, the team announced forward Connor Dewar will be sidelined on a “week-to-week” basis due to an undisclosed ailment.
Dewar missed his first game of the season on Thursday.
Notes:
• Penguins rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs is scheduled to start Saturday’s game. In 37 games this season, Silovs has a 19-10-8 record, a 2.99 goals-against average, an .890 save percentage and two shutouts.
Silovs previously faced the Capitals on Nov. 6, guiding the Penguins to a 5-3 home win. He made 27 saves on 30 shots in that victory.
• Penguins rookie defenseman Jake Livanavage is not scheduled to make his NHL debut a day after signing a two-year entry-level contract.
“He won’t be playing today,” Muse said. “He’s just traveling, everything else. Right now, it’s about him just getting in, get settled, be around the group. In terms of anything moving forward, we’ll make those decisions later on.”
As a junior at North Dakota this season, the undrafted Livanavage, 21, played in 39 games and posted 25 points (five goals, 20 assists).
• Entering the day, Wotherspoon was one of three players who had yet to miss a game for the Penguins this season. Forwards Anthony Mantha and Tommy Novak are the others.
• Neither team staged a morning skate.
• While the Penguins have nothing to tangibly gain on Saturday, the Capitals are still playing for their postseason hopes.
With three games remaining on their schedule, the Capitals have a 40-30-9 record and 89 points. Those figures have them situated in sixth place of the Metropolitan Division, trailing the third-place Philadelphia Flyers (40-27-12, 92 points) by three points.
• The Capitals are scheduled to start goaltender Logan Thompson. In 56 games this season, Thompson has a 29-21-6 record, a 2.47 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage and three shutouts.
Throughout his career, Thompson has faced the Penguins in four contests, posting a 3-1-0 record, a 2.52 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.
• Capitals forward Anthony Beauvillier has 298 career points.
• The scheduled referees are Frederick L’Ecuyer (No. 17) and Carter Sandlak (No. 29), while the linespersons are Matt MacPherson (No. 83) and C.J. Murray (No. 68).