Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea is expected to rejoin his team’s lineup for a game against the Colorado Avalanche at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

Shea, sporting a full face shield to protect a suspected jaw injury, participated in a morning skate in Cranberry with no apparent limitations on contact. Following the morning skate, his upper lip was heavily stitched and he indicated he also had stitches inside his mouth on his jaw.”

“I’m excited to get back,” Shea said, with a slightly muffled speech pattern. “Should be a good test for us against the best team in the league. I’ll be ready to go.”

Shea was scratched for a 5-1 home loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday due to a presumed facial injury he suffered a day earlier during a 5-4 home shootout win against the Winnipeg Jets.

During Saturday’s contest, Shea absorbed a hit from Jets forward Adam Lowry during the second period and left the game, holding a towel over his face.

Sunday’s game was the first Shea has missed this season. In the 69 games he has played, he has scored a career-high 28 points (four goals, 24 assists) while averaging 18:57 of ice time per contest.

As for Tuesday’s game, coach Dan Muse indicated Shea still needs final clearance from the team’s medical staff but expressed optimism that Shea would be in the lineup.

“He had a good skate,” Muse said. “He looked good. But I still need to talk to him and talk to our (medical) staff.”

Notes:

• Rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs is scheduled to start Tuesday’s contest, according to Muse. In 33 games this season, Silovs has a 16-9-8 record, a 2.92 goals-against average, an .893 save percentage and two shutouts.

During a 7-2 road win against the Avalanche on March 16, Silovs made 25 saves on 27 shots.

• Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin will be scratched due to an undisclosed injury. In his place, rookie forward Ville Koivunen was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

• The Penguins’ lines and pairings during Tuesday’s morning skate were:

67 Rickard Rakell – 87 Sidney Crosby – 17 Bryan Rust

59 Egor Chinakhov – 18 Tommy Novak – 39 Anthony Mantha

41 Ville Koivunen – 81 Ben Kindel – 16 Justin Brazeau

25 Elmer Soderblom – 19 Connor Dewar – 55 Noel Acciari

28 Parker Wotherspoon – 65 Erik Karlsson

49 Sam Girard – 58 Kris Letang

5 Ryan Shea – 75 Connor Clifton

• The first power-play unit included Crosby, Karlsson, Mantha, Rakell and Rust. The second power-play unit involved Brazeau, Chinakhov, Kindel, Letang and Novak.

Defensemen Ryan Graves, Ilya Solovyov and Jack St. Ivany, as well as forward Kevin Hayes, operated as reserves.

• Letang has 799 career points.

• Girard has 199 career assists.

• Malkin has 1,398 career points.

• Through Monday, the Avalanche have allowed 12 short-handed goals, the most in the NHL. The Penguins are second with 11 short-handed goals allowed.

• According to the Denver Post, the Avalanche are scheduled to start goaltender Scott Wedgewood. In 38 games this season, Wedgewood has a 25-5-6 record, a 2.19 goals-against average, a .916 save percentage and two shutouts.

On March 16, Wedgewood made two saves on five shots before being pulled after 13 minutes of ice time.

• Avalanche forward Logan O’Connor is expected to make his season debut. He has been sidelined to this point of the season due to a hip injury.

• Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar has 498 career points.

• Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson has 198 career points

• The scheduled referees are Jordan Samuels-Thomas (No. 37) and Kyle Rehman (No. 10), while the linespersons are Jeremy Faucher (No. 97) and Matt MacPherson (No. 83).

Copyright ©2026— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)