The Pittsburgh Penguins are expected to start Tristan Jarry on Wednesday evening vs. the Buffalo Sabres at PPG Paints Arena.
Jarry, the winning goalie in Monday’s road victory at Montreal, will start back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Jarry is 1-1 with a 4.50 goals against average and .866 save percentage.
Notes:
• On the injury front, per coach Mike Sullivan, forwards Vasily Ponomarev, Matt Nieto and Blake Lizotte all skated this morning ahead ahead of organized team activities, with no changes to their statuses.
Nieto continues to work his way back from offseason knee surgery and remains on long-term injured reserve, while Ponomarev is dealing with an unspecified upper-body ailment.
Lizotte, on injured reserve with a concussion suffered during the preseason, was described as having taken a “step forward” with his workload Wednesday.
• The Penguins utilized the following lines, defensive pairings and special teams groupings at Wednesday’s morning skate:
72 Anthony Beauvillier - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust
8 Michael Bunting - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 67 Rickard Rakell
10 Drew O’Connor - 20 Lars Eller - 18 Jesse Puljujarvi
13 Kevin Hayes - 19 Cody Glass - 55 Noel Acciari
24 Matt Grzelcyk - 58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson - 65 Erik Karlsson
27 Ryan Graves - 3 Jack St. Ivany
First power-play unit: Crosby, Malkin, Rust, Letang and Karlsson.
Second power-play unit: Bunting, Rakell, Hayes, Grzelcyk, Puljujarvi/Eller rotating.
• Forward Valtteri Puustinen joined blueliner Ryan Shea during line rushes as a reserve fourth defensive pairing.
• Forward Rutger McGroarty did not partake in any line rushes, indicating he’ll likely be a healthy scratch Wednesday evening.
• Per Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is scheduled to start for Buffalo. In two games this season, he has a 0-2-0 record, a 2.56 goals against average and an .886 save percentage.
Throughout his career, Luukkonen has faced the Penguins four times and has a 2-2-0 record, a 2.38 goals against average and a .937 save percentage.
• Also per Ruff, J.J. Peterka is available to the Sabres lineup. A 28-goal scorer last season, Peterka has missed the past two games due to a concussion.
