Over the weekend the Penguins gained back two important pieces in Sidney Crosby and Jeff Carter, but it did not stop the Penguins from falling into their first official “slump… of the year as they lost 4-2 to the New Jersey Devils for their third consecutive loss. They have been outscored 13-3 in those three games. They are tied with the Islanders for last place in the division with eight points with the Islanders having a game in hand.
Complicating the path forward is the Penguins seems to have some more players entering COVID protocol
Coach Sullivan on Ruhwedel and Pettersson: "Both Chad and Marcus are confirmed positive, so they'll go through the COVID protocol."
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) November 1, 2021
The Penguins certainly aren’t catching any breaks on this front so far this year. We’ll have to wait and see how long Pettersson and Ruhwedel are out for. Some good news is Kris Letang looks like he is ready to return from is bout form COVID.
Coach Sullivan on Letang: "Tanger has been cleared for the protocol. He had his last cardiac screening this morning. So he'll have an off-ice workout today, he'll skate tomorrow, and I would anticipate he joins the team on Wednesday."
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) November 1, 2021
As for the lines they look like the following with the players missing from COVID
The Penguins switched up their lines in addition to adjusting the D pairs with Pettersson/Ruhwedel joining Letang in the protocol:
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) November 1, 2021
Guentzel-Crosby-Rodrigues
Zucker-Carter-Heinen
Aston-Reese—Blueger-McGinn
O'Connor-Boyle-Kapanen
Matheson-Dumoulin
Joseph-Marino
Riikola-Friedman
Juuso Riikola might be playing on the bottom pairing, but he earned quite a promotion at practice at the expense of John Marino
The Penguins are doing special teams work. Here are the power-play units...
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) November 1, 2021
PP1) Riikola, Crosby, Carter, Guentzel, Rodrigues
PP2) Marino, Matheson, Zucker, Kapanen, Heinen
It’s always funny to see things like this because you have a player that can’t even crack the lineup for almost two years getting first power play reps, but then again nothing about Riikola’s usage has ever made sense.
The Penguins will have a few practices to get right before they take on their #1 rival on Thursday.
Thanks for reading!