CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins will not have their No. 1 goalie when they face the Bruins Saturday afternoon at TD Garden in Boston.
They will, however, have one who rebounded from a 0-3-1 start to go 8-1-4 in his past 13 decisions.
And who, perhaps more importantly, appears to have secured the unwavering confidence of his teammates.
Casey DeSmith is scheduled to be in goal against Boston because Tristan Jarry has an unspecified lower-body injury that caused him to sit out practice Friday, according to Mike Sullivan.
The cause of Jarry's injury is not known, although it might have occurred when Islanders forward Anders Lee slid into his right leg during the third period of the Penguins' 6-3 victory at PPG Paints Arena Thursday.
Louis Domingue has been recalled from the Penguins' farm team in Wilkes-Barre on an emergency basis to back up DeSmith.
DeSmith called his poor start to the season "ancient history," and added that "I haven't thought about the first four games of the season in a while."
His teammates seem to have done likewise.
"He's been playing great," Danton Heinen said. "We have a ton of confidence in him. Lately, he's been really good for us."
Sullivan offered an equally upbeat assessment.
"We have full confidence in Casey," he said. "His game has really evolved over the course of the season. Since the turn of the calendar year, he's put really solid hockey together for us."
DeSmith figures he will have to do that again Saturday, if the Penguins hope to return home with a point or two.
Although Boston has sputtered of late, going 1-4 in its past five games, he cautioned that the Bruins present a formidable challenge.
"They're a playoff-style team," DeSmith said. "They're physical. They're fast, and they always play really hard. They don't take games off."
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• The Penguins aren't the only team with significant injury issues. Boston's list includes right winger David Pastrnak, who leads the team with 38 goals but has missed the past five games and is not expected to play Saturday. "He's a highly skilled player," DeSmith said. "Anytime any of those big guys are missing, it's an added bonus."
• Sullivan said Mike Matheson did not practice because he was given a "maintenance day." Marcus Pettersson was plugged into Matheson's spot alongside Kris Letang.
• Heinen, who scored Thursday when Brian Boyle sprung him on a breakaway after Heinen finished serving a penalty, said "you never want to be in the box, but whenever you're in there, that's what you're hoping for,"
• Evgeni Malkin, who has two games remaining in his suspension, participated in the workout and stayed on the ice well after the formal portion of it had concluded to get some extra work.
• Personnel combinations:
Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell
Zucker-Carter-Rust
McGinn-Blueger-Heinen
Rodrigues-Boyle-Kapanen
Pettersson-Letang
Dumoulin-Marino
Friedman-Ruhwedel
No. 1 power play: Crosby, Letang, Guentzel, Rust, Rakell
No. 2 power play: Marino, Kapanen, Carter, Zucker, Rodrigues
