Penguins' Alex Galchenyuk, Patric Hornqvist out with undisclosed injuries
Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Alex Galchenyuk and Patric Hornqvist are considered day to day due to undisclosed injuries according to coach Mike Sullivan.
Hornqvist was sidelined during Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets when he was struck by a shot from teammate Kris Letang during the first period.
Galchenyuk aggravated a prior injury, according to Sullivan. Acquired in an offseason trade with the Arizona Coyotes, Galchenyuk was limited to one game during the preseason in September due to an undisclosed ailment.
Neither player participated in practice on Wednesday in Cranberry due to their injuries. That forced the Penguins — who are already without the services of injured forwards Nick Bjugstad, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust — to reshuffle their lines yet again.
The top line remained status quo with Sidney Crosby centering Jake Guentzel and Dominik Simon.
Dominik Kahun was promoted to the second line on the left wing with Jared McCann at center and Brandon Tanev on the right wing.
The third line was a reunion of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton alumni as Teddy Blueger centered Zach Aston-Reese and Sam Lafferty.
The fourth line featured Andrew Agozzino, recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Monday, centering defensemen Juuso Riikola and Chad Ruhwedel.
Bjugstad, Malkin, Rust and Galchenyuk are all on injured reserve. Along with Hornqvist, that quintent combines for $27.3 million of the team’s payroll according to Cap Friendly.
Forward Adam Johnson was called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton when Galchenyuk was placed on IR.
The defensive pairings remained the same. Letang was paired with Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson skated with Justin Schultz, and Jack Johnson worked with Erik Gudbranson. John Marino served as a seventh defensemen.
On special teams, the power-play units had a very different look. The first squad included Crosby, Guentzel, Letang, Schultz and Simon. The second group was composed of Agozzino, Kahun, McCann, Pettersson and Riikola.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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