The Pittsburgh Penguins assigned forward Alex Nylander to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL) on Thursday, hours after they recalled him under emergency conditions in advance of their home contest against the Minnesota Wild.

There was no word on which of their incumbent forwards were potentially unavailable for Thursday game, but the Penguins opened Thursday’s contest with the same 12 forwards they skated with during a 5-1 road loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

This marks the third time this season the right-handed Nylander had been recalled to the NHL roster, with all three transactions coming since March 7. In six NHL contests this season, Nylander has one assist while averaging 13:20 of ice time per contest.

The team assigned him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Monday after he had been a healthy scratch for eight consecutive games.

An All-Star with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, Nylander has 50 points, including a team-best 25 goals, in 55 games.

Note: With defenseman Jan Rutta returning to the lineup after missing 10 games due to a suspected left knee injury, defenseman Mark Friedman’s recall status was changed from emergency to regular.

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