Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has no plans to rest players for regular-season finale
Even though the Pittsburgh Penguins clinched a playoff spot with a win over Detroit on Thursday, expect an all-hands-on-deck approach to continue for their regular-season finale against the New York Rangers on Saturday night.
Matt Murray is expected to start in goal, and coach Mike Sullivan said after morning skate that he had no plans to give any players the night off for maintenance.
Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, who returned from injuries Thursday, were among the 11 players who participated in morning skate Saturday.
“There’s obviously still a lot of things that can still happen with this last game,” winger Bryan Rust said. “We can finish in a wide variety of spots, so this is an important one.”
The Penguins come into the game in third place in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind the New York Islanders and two points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes. The Islanders face Washington and the Hurricanes take on Philadelphia on Saturday night.
Because the Penguins hold a tie-breaker advantage over the Islanders but not the Hurricanes, they could still finish between second and fourth in the division.
Finishing second or third would mean a first-round playoff matchup with the Islanders. Finishing fourth would mean a date with the Capitals.
While Sullivan said he didn’t have any plans to give players the night off, he did try to give them time to rest and recuperate over the past two days.
Friday’s practice and Saturday’s morning skate were both optional. Players could choose which they wanted to participate in “based on their own respective workloads and how they feel,” Sullivan said. Both was not an option.
“We thought it was best that our players take responsibility for their own preparation process and we’re trying to give them the opportunity to recover in between games at the same time,” Sullivan said.
Defenseman Brian Dumoulin skated Saturday morning for the first time after missing the previous two games with a lower-body injury. Zach Aston-Reese (lower body) and Chad Ruhwedel (upper body) also skated.
“The fact that Dumo was on the ice is really encouraging from our standpoint,” Sullivan said. “The other two guys are making progress.”
Alexandar Georgiev is expected to start in goal for the Rangers, who have lost 10 of their last 13 games.
Jonathan Bombulie is the TribLive assistant sports editor. A Greensburg native, he was a hockey reporter for two decades, covering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for 17 seasons before joining the Trib in 2015 and covering the Penguins for four seasons, including Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17. He can be reached at jbombulie@triblive.com.
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