As expected, Alex Goligoski will be out for 2 to 3 weeks with what is being called a lower body injury. If this had been lingering, he seemed to aggravate it on Saturday night when he fell awkwardly and struggled back to the bench moments before the Bill Guerin tying goal.

"He's getting an MRI today; He's got a lower-body injury," head coach Dan Bylsma said. "We are going to estimate 2 to 3 weeks on Alex."

When will it end??

Here is a taste of the Bylsma's additional comments thanks to the Penguins official site...

On the constant 2-week injuries
It doesn't seem to end there. When does the two weeks end? Hopefully some of the guys will continue to progress and maybe by the weekend some of the guys will get some relief soon enough.

On adjusting to the injuries
At this point of time it's tough to say that we have continuity where that's going to be a matchup, or going into a game that's the amount of minutes a player may get or not get. It will be how things go that particular night...We have new matchups, new guys in the lineup. The good thing is that you saw Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy come in (knowing) our system and how we want to play, fitting right in and playing the right way. Nate Guenin is going to be the same way tonight. There is some continuity there with how we want to play.

On the benefit of playing in the same system in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Guys like Ben Lovejoy and Deryk Engelland are more comfortable playing the way you want to play than a Jay McKee or Martin Skoula, who have only been here for a short amount of time. That does help them out and help us out.

On the defensive depth order
Coming out of training camp is different than during a point in the season. Nate and Deryk put themselves neck and neck coming out of training camp. Both of those guys could have made our club in a split decision as to who would be our seventh defenseman before we acquired Martin Skoula. At that point in time Deryk may have had a little bit upper hand versus Nate. Ben had the injury in training camp and didn't get the chance that Nate and Deryk had. He was a guy, in his case with his skating, is the difference. All three are really close in terms of the depth chart. At times it's a given with what we need at that given time or who's playing the best down there.

On Eaton playing on the power play
He's played the second unit for us before. In different scenarios he's gotten almost half the power play at times. He's a real strong player that knows what's expected of him in different situations. As a result, his goal last game was getting up the ice, making the smart read, being an option for getting that goal in the last game. That was a smart read and adding offense to our team. The same thing applies to him on the power play, knowing what's expected, keeping it within his skill set, keeping it simple and being ready to add by getting pucks to the middle of the ice, back to the half wall, when he has a chance getting shots to the net. He's done that effectively for us. In the Columbus, he had a great game by getting three shots to the net on the power play. You can expect to see that from him tonight.

* * * * *

From earlier...

The Penguins official site is reporting (relying on them today, since I wasn't able to get to the skate) that Alex Goligoski is not on the ice with the team for their game day skate. He has now missed back to back practices and his status for this evening is in question. I am sure Dan Bylsma will have an update for us in his post skate Q and A...

Here are the line combos that are in action this morning...

Fedotenko-Crosby-Malkin
Bourque-Staal-Guerin
Cooke-Letestu-Dupuis
Rupp-Adams-Godard

Skoula-Lovejoy
Eaton-Engelland
Guenin-McKee

* * * * *

From Earlier...

The Penguins are supposed to update the world on the status of Alex Goligoski this morning, but I think that the writing might have just appeared on the wall.

The team has recalled defenseman and Pittsburgh's own, Nate Guenin from their Wilkes Barre-Scranton AHL affiliate. I am sure it is a safety net move, but the possibility does exist that they could have three AHL regulars on their blue line when they face the Ducks this evening at Mellon Arena. (Ben Lovejoy and Deryk Engelland)

Here is the official release... I will update you on the status of Go Go after the morning skate...

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled defenseman Nate Guenin from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

After signing with the Penguins in the offseason, Guenin became the third Pittsburgh native to join the Penguins organization in the last three seasons (Bill Thomas, 2008-09; Ryan Malone, 2003-08). Guenin, 26, is a Hopewell High School graduate and played one season (1999-00) with the Pittsburgh Hornets.

In his first 15 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this year, Guenin has posted a plus-1 rating to go with his 22 penalty minutes.

Guenin was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers organization the last three seasons. He saw action in 12 NHL games, posting two assists. Guenin (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) spent the majority of his time with the club’s top minor-league affiliate the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL. During that time, Guenin recorded 43 points (7G-36A) and 333 penalty minutes in 207 contests.

Guenin joined the Flyers after playing four collegiate seasons at Ohio State, notching 53 points (6G-47A) and 390 penalty minutes in 151 games. He served as team captain during his senior season and received honorable mention for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Star Team.

In his lone season with the Pittsburgh Hornets, Guenin scored 13 points (3G-10A) and totaled 122 penalty minutes in 40 games.

FOLLOW METZER ON TWITTER HERE

VISIT METZER ON FACEBOOK HERE

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PENGUINS HOCKEY BUZZCAST

FOLLOW METZER AND MAY ON FACEBOOK