Penguins to recall Casey DeSmith, Thomas Di Pauli

The Penguins will recall goaltender Casey DeSmith from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League in advance of Saturday’s road game against the Montreal Canadiens, according to coach Mike Sullivan.

The transaction will allow goaltender Tristan Jarry to remain in Pittsburgh on Saturday and prepare to start Sunday’s home contest against the Florida Panthers, which starts shortly after 5 p.m. Presumably, goaltender Matt Murray will start in Montreal for a contest which begins after 7 p.m.

DeSmith, who served as the team’s backup goaltender for most of the past two seasons, has spent this entire season in the AHL. In 22 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he has a 10-8-2 record along with a 2.82 goals-against average, .909 save percentage and two shutouts. He was named the AHL’s goaltender of the month during November.

Additionally, the team is expected to recall forward Thomas Di Pauli from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. This will be Di Pauli’s third recall of the season, but he has yet to appear in an NHL game during his career. In 22 AHL games this season, he has 12 points (six goals, six assists).

There was no word yet of any corresponding move to keep the Penguins under the NHL’s roster limit of 23 active players, but the team has the option of placing forward Jake Guentzel (right shoulder) and defenseman Justin Schultz (undisclosed) on injured reserve.

Notes:

• Injured Penguins forward Sidney Crosby participated in practice for the second time this week. He opened the session in a gray jersey to signal no contact but replaced it with a normal black jersey roughly midway through.

Crosby indicated there remains no time frame for him to return to the lineup from a core muscle ailment which has sidelined him since Nov. 9.

“I’ve been progressing each week,” Crosby said. “I’m happy about that obviously. I’d like to be out there right now but it’s just something that when it’s time, I’ll be out there.”

Crosby could travel the team for its upcoming three-game road trip to Las Vegas, Denver and Glendale, Ariz. next week.

“I’m not sure yet,” he said. “We’re going to figure it out over the weekend here. I’ll be skating over the weekend while the team is gone. It will be great to be around the group (on the road). It’s been a while. But whatever is best as far as me getting back.”

While he did wear a regular jersey for a portion of Friday’s practice, Crosby indicated he has not been cleared for contact as of yet.

“That’s a big step,” Crosby said. “Once you’re cleared for contact, then you see how things respond from there. I’m not ready for that yet. Until then, I’ll probably flip flop between doing my own stuff and skating with the injured guys then going with the (healthy players) depending on the practice.”

• Crosby did not participate in line rushes. The lines were:

Alex Galchenyuk - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust

Dominik Simon - Jared McCann - Patric Hornqvist

Zach Aston-Reese - Teddy Blueger - Brandon Tanev

Dominik Kahun - Joseph Blandisi - Sam Lafferty

• The defensive pairs rotated.

• Crosby did work on the top power play unit along with Malkin, Hornqvist and Letang while McCann and Rust alternated with the group.

• The second unit included Aston-Reese, Galchenyuk, Kahun, Marino and Riikola.

• Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Andrew Agozzino was selected for the AHL’s All-Star Game event. He is the team’s leading scorer with 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) in 33 games this season.

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