The Penguins will be without two lineup regulars against the Hurricanes on Thursday night here at PPG Paints Arena, as both Josh Archibald and Ryan Poehling will miss the game due to injury.
Archibald (lower-body) and Poehling (upper-body) missed practice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry on Wednesday and are continuing to be evaluated, per Mike Sullivan. Both players will be missing their third game of the season.
Their injuries have opened the door for Drew O'Connor to make his return to the lineup. He skated on the left wing of the Penguins' fourth line at practice on Wednesday with Teddy Blueger and Danton Heinen. The Penguins don't have any extra forwards on the roster, so unless they plan to skate short up front, O'Connor will play in his fourth NHL game this season and first since Nov. 5 against the Kraken.
In the three NHL games O'Connor has played this season, he has attempted seven shots (four on goal), thrown eight hits, and blocked a shot. He does not have any points. In an incredibly limited -- and mostly meaningless -- 22-minute sample at 5-on-5, the Penguins took 57.1% of the shot attempts with O'Connor out on the ice but managed to generate just 44.7% of the expected goals.
O'Connor does have a history of decent impacts toward the Penguins' ability to maintain possession and control the lion's share of chances, as the Penguins have generated 58.1% of the expected goals over the 298 minutes O'Connor has played at 5-on-5 over his career.
Down in the AHL this season, O'Connor has picked up 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in 20 games. He recently tied the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins franchise record for most points over a two-game stretch with nine, thanks to a four- and five-point performance in consecutive games earlier this month.
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• Attendance was rather light for the Penguins' optional skate here at PPG Paints Arena Thursday morning. The following players took the option to participate: Evgeni Malkin, O'Connor, Brian Dumoulin, Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Friedman, Casey DeSmith.
• Tristan Jarry will start in goal for the Penguins. He is 15-3-3 this season with a .922 save percentage and 2.60 goals against average. He has saved 4.4 goals above expected based on the quality of chances he has faced, per Evolving-Hockey. Remarkably, the Penguins have earned at least a standings point in each of Jarry's last 13 starts.
• It will be either Pyotr Kochetkov or Antti Raanta in goal for the Hurricanes. Kochetkov manned the crease in both of the previous matchups between these two teams this season, winning them both and stopping 53 of 57 Penguins shots. He is 10-1-4 with a sparkling .928 save percentage, 1.94 goals against average and 11.3 goals saved above expected.
• Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho has been out with a lower-body injury that he suffered on Dec. 6. Rod Briand'Amour said on Tuesday that he'd like to see Aho in a practice before he returns to game action, then Aho returned to the ice for practice on Wednesday. His status for Thursday night is up in the air.
• After the Penguins' 3-2 loss to the Hurricanes in Raleigh on Sunday night, Sullivan said he believes that the Penguins might be able to get a little more going offensively against their division rival by looking to shoot the puck more.
"We’ve got to get inside," Sullivan said. "I think one of the best ways to get inside is to shoot the puck a little bit more. ... We tend to be a little bit more selective of when we shoot, where we shoot. Not that we want to be something that we’re not, but I do think that we could take a little bit of that and add it to our game and just simplify it a little bit. If we can get the puck inside, it’ll give us an opportunity to get people inside, as well."
I asked Dumoulin if shooting a bit more is at the front of everyone's mind heading into Thursday night, and he certainly seems to think so.
"We know, obviously, both ways, not a lot of room out there, so any offense we can manufacture just by hopefully getting a bounce or creating something simple," he said. "We know that it’s hard to make that extra play against these guys, because usually they’re back with their coverage. I think simplifying and shooting is a good recipe against these guys."
• At practice on Wednesday, Dumoulin had to pay the price for losing a shootout drill at the end of November. That price was wearing gear that the rest of the team picked out for him. Dumoulin spoke with the media about it following morning skate on Thursday and said that it wasn't the worst thing in the world.
"It wasn’t bad," Dumoulin would say. "Worst part was definitely the cage visor. I wore a bubble in college, so that was the worst part for me. The wood stick wasn’t too bad. Pretty simple practice, too, so it wasn’t too bad."
Although the rules are that the rest of the team got to decide what gear he wore, Dumoulin believes Crosby was behind many of the selections.
Dumoulin also said it "was a little weird skating" because he typically tucks the tongue of his skates into his shin pads, but the shin pads he wore on Wednesday weren't big enough to allow for it.
"Felt really light, there wasn’t much padding," he said.
• Puck drops for the game against the Hurricanes at 7:08 p.m. It is the final game before the holiday break. I'll be there, along with Taylor Haase, for your coverage.
