The Penguins have a big game tonight in Ottawa. Losers of two straight games and three of their last four, the Pens have sunk to third place in the Metro Division, just a point ahead of the Islanders and a point behind the Blue Jackets. Carolina leads the division by nine points.
Forward Anthony Mantha is with the team in Ottawa but linemate Evgeni Malkin remained behind in Pittsburgh. Mantha has an undisclosed injury and he and Malkin are both listed as “day to day.” The reworked second line in practice yesterday included regular winger Egor Chinakhov alongside Tommy Novak at center and seldom-used Kevin Hayes at right wing. The third defensive pairing was interesting…Ryan Shea did not practice and Connor Clifton worked as an extra skater. They were replaced by Ryan Graves and Ilya Solovyov.
Coach Dan Muse says the Penguins have rebounded from tough losses before and he expects a great effort tonight against the Senators, who have won four in a row and six of their last seven.
Muse says the Penguins have to be better at defending against long shots, which have been finding their way through traffic and ending up in the net lately.
With IUP women’s basketball on the air tonight, there will be no Penguins radio on 92.5 FM U92 tonight. Penguins faceoff is shortly after 7 o’clock.
