The bombshell dropped that Casey DeSmith would miss the rest of the postseason and the Pittsburgh Penguins would be forced to rely on their No. 3 goalie for the foreseeable future, but there were other injury updates after practice Friday.
Forward Jason Zucker took part in an optional practice at PPG Paints Arena on Friday, after which coach Mike Sullivan said Zucker would be “a game-time decision” for Saturday’s Game 3 of the Penguins’ first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers.
The Penguins’ usual second-line left wing, Zucker did not play in either of the series’ first two games in New York because of a lower-body injury suffered during the final week of the regular season. He has been skating with teammates.
Sullivan used his “day-to-day” parlance to describe the statuses of wing Rickard Rakell and defensemen Brian Dumoulin. Rakell, who left Game 1 during the first period because of an upper-body injury, skated with Penguins skills coach Ty Hennes on Friday.
Dumoulin was revealed to have a lower-body injury that apparently was suffered during Game 1. The top-pair defenseman missed a playoff game for the first time in his career when he was not in uniform for Thursday’s Game 2.
The series is tied 1-1.
