Injuries and suspensions have tested Pittsburgh’s depth all season long, but Monday night’s projected lineup is...well, something else.
From the morning skate, here what the Penguins will roll out for this evening’s tilt against Toronto:
Chris Kunitz-Sidney Crosby-Pascal Dupuis
Harry Zolnierczyk-Jussi Jokinen-Jayson Megna
Chris Conner-Brandon Sutter-Joe Vitale
Craig Adams-Zach Sill-Chuck Kobasew
On defense...
Matt Niskanen-Olli Maatta
Robert Bortuzzo-Brian Dumoulin
Simon Despres-Philip Samuelsson
The reasons for such an obscure lineup (truth time: I had to look up who the heck Zach Sill is) are injuries to Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Paul Martin, Brooks Orpik, Rob Scuderi, Tanner Glass, Beau Bennett and Andrew Ebbett.
Meanwhile, Deryk Engelland is suspended indefinitely pending an in-person hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Wednesday and James Neal is in the midst of his five-game suspension for kneeing Brad Marchand.
Oh, and here’s a fun fact about tonight’s blueline, as per the Pens website:
Combined Despres (60), Bortuzzo (39), Maatta (34), Dumoulin (1) and Samuelsson (0) have played in 134 career NHL games.
Related: Hurting Penguins recall Samuelsson and Zolnierczyk, put Letang on IR