5 plotlines to watch as stressed, injured Penguins begin road trip

They’ve lost six of their last 10 games and are about to embark on a tough, three-game road trip with a precarious hold on an Eastern Conference playoff position.

They’re working on integrating newly acquired forwards Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann into the lineup while Evgeni Malkin and Justin Schultz remain sidelined with injuries.

These are stressful times for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Wednesday afternoon, they got even more stressful when No. 1 goalie Matt Murray didn’t practice with his teammates in Cranberry.

Coach Mike Sullivan said Murray was being evaluated for an upper-body injury. He said the injury is not a concussion.

Sullivan said Murray, Malkin (upper body), Schultz (leg) and Zach Aston-Reese (hand) would make the trip with the team. All four could loosely be described as day to day, but there is no firm timeline for a return to game action for any of them.

Murray has missed time twice before this season. He was sidelined for 10 days after an Oct. 8 concussion in practice and about a month with a lower-body injury diagnosed on Thanksgiving.

He is 11-4-0 with a .930 save percentage since returning from the lower-body injury Dec. 15, which is why an extended absence would add to the team’s stress levels. Backup Casey DeSmith is 3-4-0 with a .903 save percentage during that same span.

Tristan Jarry was called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to round out the goaltending tandem. He’s 0-1-1 with an .877 save percentage in the NHL this season.

Goaltending aside, here are five other storylines to watch as the Penguins begin a three-game road trip that starts Thursday in Florida and continues Saturday at Tampa Bay and Monday at Philadelphia.

1. New-look defense

Sullivan shook up his defense pairs at practice Wednesday. Marcus Pettersson moved up to the top pair with Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin was with Jack Johnson and the duo of Olli Maatta and Juuso Riikola remained intact.

Sullivan noted that a static lineup over the previous 10 games produced a 4-6-0 record.

“I know this group is capable of more, and our expectation is higher,” he said.

2. New look up front, too

Sullivan also reconfigured his forward lines. The biggest change was Bjugstad leaving the second-line center spot to skate on the right side of the top line with Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby.

“He’s got great offensive instincts,” Sullivan said. “He can shoot the puck. He’s shown an ability to play in a top-six role. He’s done it in Florida the last few years.”

3. Seeing old friends

Six days after being traded for each other, Bjugstad and McCann will face Florida’s Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan on Thursday night.

“Obviously I know every player pretty well down there,” Bjugstad said. “Just have fun with it. I’ve never been on that side of the bench. Hopefully we can get the win.”

4. Record watch

When Crosby takes the ice Thursday, he will tie Mario Lemieux’s team record of 915 games played.

The way Phil Kessel sees it, that was just a matter of time.

“He’s an unbelievable player out there. How can you trade a guy like that?” Kessel said. “I don’t think he’s getting traded anytime soon or maybe ever. It’s a credit to him. Obviously, I mean, he ain’t getting traded.”

5. Rocky road

Florida has won six of its last eight, Tampa Bay is the top team in the league and Philadelphia is on an eight-game winning streak. The Penguins will have to be on top of their game on the trip to avoid serious trouble.

“We’ve been here before,” Kessel said. “We’ve just got to kind of keep going and plugging away. Play a little better hockey and maybe do the little things a little better.”

Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jonathan at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BombulieTrib.