Injured players will join team on road
The team charter will be a little more crowded on the upcoming road trip.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Saturday that injured players Brian Dumoulin, Nick Bjugstad and John Marino will all travel with the team for the trip that starts Sunday in Washington and ends in San Jose six days later.
“That’s encouraging,” Sullivan said Saturday before the Penguins’ 5-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
Dumoulin was injured in an odd collision in Nov. 30 loss in St. Louis. A day later, on Dec. 1, he had surgery at UPMC Presbyterian to repair lacerated tendons in his left ankle. The team said then that he would miss at least eight weeks.
Dumoulin has more frequently been spotted at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex the past two weeks. Sullivan said the steady defenseman stepped back onto the ice early last week and has continued to skate on an individual basis.
Sullivan said that getting Dumoulin, a vocal team leader and the locker room disc jockey, back into the mix has provided the Penguins with energy.
“He’s really emerged as one of the leaders of the group,” the coach said.
At the time of his injury, the 6-foot-4 blue-liner led the team with a plus-17 rating, was third in blocked shots and seventh in hits. He is one of the Penguins’ best penalty-killers and was on pace for a second consecutive 20-point season.
Bjugstad has not played since Nov. 15. The big center underwent core muscle surgery a few days later. The Penguins estimated then that he would be out at least eight weeks. He had been skating in mid-January but the brakes got pumped on that for undisclosed reasons. He got back on the ice several days ago.
Marino has been sidelined since taking a slap shot to his left cheek Feb. 6. The rookie blue-liner had surgery to repair broken bones in his face Feb. 10.
General manager Jim Rutherford recently told the Post-Gazette that the Penguins expected this weekend to get injury updates on those players that would help him decide if he wanted to make another deal before Monday’s trade deadline.
Asked Saturday if those three players traveling to D.C. and out to California meant that the team had indeed gotten good news, Sullivan played coy.
“It’s not even news for us,” Sullivan said. “That is just the process.”
Zucker off Crosby line
The Penguins this month acquired Jason Zucker in the hopes he would be Sidney Crosby’s winger during a Stanley Cup run. Zucker had three goals and an assist in his first four games in Pittsburgh. He was held off the scoresheet in the last two and got demoted, perhaps temporarily, on Saturday.
For much of the third period, Zucker skated on the third line with Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev. Jared McCann jumped back up to Crosby’s left wing.
Sullivan said Zucker has shown chemistry with Crosby “at times.” But he thinks Zucker must get more out of his wheels to make the partnership work.
“We’re trying to get him to utilize his skating game a little bit more than he has at this point,” Sullivan said. “We understand that’s a process and we’ll continue to work with him on that, because we think when he really skates he’s a dangerous player.”
Kahun sits
Dominik Kahun did not play Saturday, two days after he was hit hard by a shot in his left knee in the Toronto loss and had to be helped off the ice. Kahun, who missed Friday’s practice, took part in pregame warmups Saturday. But afterward the Penguins decided to hold the hobbled winger out of the lineup.
With Kahun out, rookie forward Anthony Angello returned to the lineup and Patric Hornqvist got bumped up to Kahun’s spot on Evgeni Malkin’s line.
The Penguins made defenseman Juuso Riikola a healthy scratch Saturday. Zach Trotman took his spot in the lineup.
Murray likely to start
Tristan Jarry was between the pipes Saturday. Given Sullivan’s recent handling of his goalies, the expectation is Matt Murray will face the Washington Capitals Sunday. Murray was in goal against them on Super Bowl Sunday. In one of his best games of the season, he made 29 saves in a 4-3 victory.