Time change is made for Penguins road game

The Penguins game against the St. Louis Blues Feb. 11 at Scottrade Center will start at noon. It had been scheduled for 3 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on NBC.

That’s the second time change for the Penguins in the past five days.

Their game Sunday against the New York Rangers was moved to 7:30 p.m., so as to not conflict with the Steelers AFC divisional-round playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Rangers

Forward Chris Kreider had rib resection surgery Sunday to have a portion of a rib removed.

The team announced the surgery Tuesday and said Kreider would be out indefinitely. He will be evaluated in six weeks. Kreider hasn’t played since a Rangers shootout victory Dec. 27 against the Washington Capitals. The next day, the team said he had a blood clot in his right arm.

Kreider, 26, is in his sixth season with the Rangers and has 11 goals and 11 assists in 37 games. He scored a career-high 28 goals last season.

Predators

Nashville announced that it signed three defense men to contract extensions — Y an nick Weber, Matt Irwin and Anthony Bitetto.

They signed Weber, 29, to a two-year contract worth $650,000 in 2018-19 and $700,000 in 2019-20.

Irwin, 30, also received a two-year contract worth $650,000 in 2018-19 and $700,000 in 2019-20.

Bitetto, 27, is averaging 13 minutes, 43 seconds in 22 games played this season or Nashville. He received a one-year, $650,000 contract.

Panthers

Veteran goaltender Roberto Luongo won’t return to the Florida lineup in mid or late January as originally hoped, but, while no timetable has been set, an early February return from a lower-body injury is considered a possibility by team officials. Luongo has not played since Dec. 4.