Injuries force several changes to the Penguins' lineup
Sergei Murashov was the odd man out.
Sure, the Pittsburgh Penguins rookie goaltender was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL) on Oct. 4 following an open competition for the net on the NHL club.
But of more contemporary concerns, there wasn’t room in the dressing room for him in Cranberry on Wednesday.
With the Penguins’ lineup in flux due to an outbreak of injuries, a fire marshal might have gotten antsy over how many occupants there are in the team’s facilities these days.
In total, 28 players, including six souls currently designated to injured reserve, are on the NHL roster. And that figure does not include the space occupied by rookie defenseman Jack St. Ivany, currently on the non-roster injured list due to a suspected right foot ailment he suffered during the preseason.
As a result, Murashov was housed in a temporary stall away from the main group. His real estate was adjacent to plastic bins filled with spare skate laces, tape and chewing gum.
Regardless of the limited curbside appeal that zip code offers, Murashov experienced an obvious sensation over the first in-season recall to the NHL roster of his career.
“Grateful,” Murashov said. “Just (a) grateful feeling. Gratitude, I would say.
“After practice (with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Tuesday), was just lying in my bed and got a call. Yeah, grateful to be here.”
The Penguins’ roster has been grated by maladies as of late. With forwards Kevin Hayes (suspected left shoulder) and Rickard Rakell (left hand) and defenseman Caleb Jones (suspected left foot) already on injured reserve, three fresh but wounded bodies joined them Tuesday when forwards Noel Acciari and Justin Brazeau as well as goaltender Tristan Jarry were also given that designation with undisclosed ailments.
Jarry’s injury will sideline him for a minimum of three weeks. That void won’t be easy to fill, considering he has been the team’s winningest goaltender this season. In seven games, he has a 5-2-0 record, a 2.60 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage and one shutout while platooning every other start in net with Arturs Silovs.
Murashov, one of the organization’s top prospects, certainly has the credentials to replace Jarry.
Through seven AHL contests, Murashov has posted a 5-2-0 record, a 1.73 goals-against average, a .931 save percentage and one shutout.
Pensive and erudite, Murashov tempers his reaction to that success.
“My confidence always comes from what I’m doing from the process, not from results,” said the 21-year-old. “So yeah, I think it was a really good process. First and foremost, I would like to say thanks to my team. They were all battling, and efforts all around were really, really high, and I truly appreciate that. I think it’s good to work with all of the coaches in the Penguins organization. And yeah, I think again, it’s all about the process and what I’m doing, and enjoying my time.”
It remains to be seen if the Penguins will maintain the goaltending platoon they have established between Silovs and Jarry, with the latter being replaced by Murashov.
“We’re having conversations as a coaching staff, conversations with (goaltending coach) Andy Chiodo,” head coach Dan Muse said. “We’re going to continue to have those conversations (and) make decisions based on what we think is best. And those conversations will continue to go from game to game.”
Also recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Tuesday were a pair of veterans with seven-figure salary cap hits in defenseman Ryan Graves ($4.5 million) and Danton Heinen ($2.25 million).
Both 30-year-olds went through waivers (and went unclaimed) before being assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton prior to the opening of the regular season.
Graves’ demotion came after an underwhelming preseason as he entered the third year of a six-year contract he signed as a valued unrestricted free agent in 2023.
“It’s a tough situation,” Graves said. “Obviously, you want to play in the NHL. It’s the best league in the world. It’s hard to be here. I have an appreciation for that. You go there (to the AHL), you want to go with a good mindset and you want to be back here. So I’m just trying to make the most of the opportunity.”
Graves appeared to do that. Primarily stationed on the left side of that squad’s second pairing, Graves even got some power-play time and racked up seven points (one goal, six assists) in 10 games.
Heinen was particularly productive during his assignment. In fact, entering Wednesday, he was still tied for the AHL lead in scoring with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) through 10 games.
In nine of those 10 contests, he was primarily deployed at center, a position he has rarely operated at during his 11-year professional career.
“There’s a few things you’ve got to learn and a few things that weren’t natural,” Heinen said. “But I got a handful of games under my belt there now. Just trying to learn and get better.”
With so many comings and goings, most of the Penguins’ lines and pairings were considerably different during Wednesday’s practice session.
Rookie forward Ben Kindel, typically deployed as the third line center, operated as a winger on the top line with center Sidney Crosby and fellow winger Bryan Rust.
The second line saw left winger Tommy Novak promoted to skate with Evgeni Malkin at center, while Anthony Mantha flipped from the left wing to the right wing.
Heinen centered the third line with rookie forward Ville Koivunen, who often skated with Heinen with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, at left wing and Philip Tomasino on the right wing.
As for the fourth line, that remains something of a mystery. Rookie forward Filip Hallander, deployed on the left wing of the top line for the last handful of games, left the ice before practice began and Muse offered no status on his well-being. That left Hayes, sidelined since the first day of training camp, to work on the right wing with incumbents Blake Lizotte at center and Connor Dewar on the left wing.
Hayes indicated he was not likely to return to the lineup by Wednesday. If Hallander is not available, another transaction would be required to dress a traditional lineup with 12 forwards.
On the blue line, the top pairings of Parker Wotherspoon and Erik Karlsson as well as Ryan Shea and Kris Letang remained intact. Meanwhile, the left-handed Graves skated with right-hander Connor Clifton, a frequent healthy scratch, as a third pairing.
A fourth pairing saw right-handed veteran Matt Dumba work on the left side with rookie Harrison Brunicke, also a right-hander.
The 19-year-old Brunicke is still eligible to return to his junior team, the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League. And he has reached the maximum of nine NHL games he is allowed to play before the first year of his three-year entry-level contract is formally activated.
Muse indicated that no decision on Brunicke’s future has been made.
Either way, the Penguins’ dressing room could change even further by Thursday’s home game against the rival Washington Capitals.
“The lines we had today there in practice (were) something that we wanted to see,” Muse said. “Some different combinations.
“We’ll talk through some things as a staff here based on what we saw and make some final decisions there going into tomorrow.”
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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