Pittsburgh Penguins forward Anthony Mantha was withheld from a practice session in Cranberry on Wednesday due to an undisclosed injury.
He has been labeled as “day to day” and will travel with the team for a road game against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.
The specific nature of his ailment isn’t publicly known. Mantha finished Tuesday’s 6-2 home loss to the Colorado Avalanche with no visible impairment.
One of five players who have appeared in all 71 of the Penguins’ games this season, Mantha has set career highs for goals (26), assists (27) and points (53) while averaging 15:03 of ice per contest.
During Tuesday’s game, he replaced another injured player, Evgeni Malkin, on the right wing of the second line as well as the top power-play unit.
Malkin remains “day to day” due to an unspecified malady and will not travel to Ottawa, according to Muse.
Malkin has skated in 50 games this season and posted 52 points (15 goals, 37 assists) while clocking an average of 17:33 per contest.
Notes:
• The Penguins’ lines and pairings during Wednesday’s practice were:
67 Rickard Rakell – 87 Sidney Crosby – 17 Bryan Rust
59 Egor Chinakhov – 18 Tommy Novak – 13 Kevin Hayes
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 – 59 Kris Letang
27 Ryan Graves – 7 Ilya Solovyov
• Defenseman Jack St. Ivany operated as a reserve.
• There were no special teams drills.
• Muse was asked for an update on rookie forward Filip Hallander, who has been designated to injured reserve due to a blood clot in an unspecified leg since November, but indicated a more elaborate update will be provided on Hallander in due time.
On Feb. 18, Hallander was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on a conditioning assignment. In three games with that team, he scored one goal before being recalled to the NHL roster Feb. 27. Since then, the Penguins have offered minimal updates on his status.
