Devils at Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to bank points during an injury-plagued first half of the season and look to add a few more when they host the New Jersey Devils on Friday night. Pittsburgh, which is waiting for All-Stars Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby to come back from injuries, announced that center Nick Bjugstad underwent core muscle surgery and defenseman Justin Schultz (lower body) would be out indefinitely before Thursday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders.
“It’s the reality of the game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We’re just going to have to learn to deal with it and find ways to win. We’ve got a deep organization. We feel as though we’ve got a deep roster. We’ve got capable guys that we can plug in. It’s a great opportunity for players to step up.” Pittsburgh has struggled of late against the Devils, who are 7-1-1 in the last nine meetings after registering a 2-1 victory last Friday as Mackenzie Blackwood turned aside 38 shots. New Jersey has been up and down since dropping the first six games of the season (0-4-2), winning back-to-back outings three times before losing - including Tuesday when they were routed by Boston 5-1 after beating Pittsburgh and Montreal in one-goal contests over the weekend. “It’s the same story we’ve been talking about all week, taking one or two steps forward and then taking one back,” Devils forward Blake Coleman told reporters. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury with the start we had and (we) need to string some wins together.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, TVA, Sportsnet, MSG Plus (New Jersey), AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh
ABOUT THE DEVILS (7-9-4): Blackwood is 5-3-1 with a .912 save percentage this month to take over the No. 1 job, but Louis Domingue could get his first start in one of the next two contests with New Jersey hosting Detroit on Saturday. Domingue, who was acquired from Tampa Bay recently after he won 21 games with the Lightning last season, got recalled from AHL Binghamton on Monday while struggling veteran Cory Schneider was sent down. Left wing Taylor Hall leads the team with 17 points, but has not scored a goal in nine games, and linemate Kyle Palmieri tops the team with seven goals.
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (11-7-4): Power forward Patric Hornqvist returned from a lower-body injury, which kept him out almost three weeks, to score Thursday and center Evgeni Malkin registered his third straight multi-point game. Jake Guentzel had an assist in the loss and owns five of his team-high 19 points in the past three games while fellow forward Bryan Rust is off to a sizzling start with eight goals and 12 points in 11 contests since coming off the injured list. Tristan Jarry (2-3-0, 1.98 goals-against average, .938 SP) could get his fifth start of the season as Matt Murray made 20 saves Thursday.
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh F Alex Galchenyuk, acquired from Arizona this summer, has not scored this season but owns three assists in the last four games.
2. Coleman is riding a four-game point streak, scoring a pair of goals and assisting on two others.
3. The Penguins gave up two power-play goals Thursday after going 23-of-23 on the penalty kill over the previous 10 contests.