As the Pittsburgh Penguins get ready to start a stretch of 8 out of 10 at Mellon Arena tonight against the New York Islanders in their first home contest after a long road trip, their goaltending situation is suddenly quite muddled.
Starter Marc-Andre Fleury is still dealing with the effects of a broken ring finger on the glove hand sustained last Thursday in Pittsburgh's 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton.
Backup Brent Johnson is on his way back from a groin injury he suffered at the conclusion of the morning skate 8 days ago as the Pens prepared to face the Minnesota Wild in the Twin Cities.
3rd goaltender and usual Baby Penguins' starter John Curry is also with the club, but coming off a horrific performance in Saturday's night's 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver that saw the young netminder pulled after allowing 5 goals on 14 shots in a span of approximately 8 minutes.
At this point, while the starter for tonight's game is uncertain, it's likely that it won't be Fleury -- who didn't take any shots in practice yesterday but instead skated around with a skater's glove on his left hand -- or rookie Alexander Pechurski, who was returned to his Western Hockey League club in Tri-City after he performed admirably in relief stopping 12 of 13 shots in his unexpected NHL debut after Curry hit the bench Saturday.
That means either Johnson is going to get the call, or Head Coach Dan Bylsma is going to give Curry a bounceback opportunity against the club he defeated for his first NHL win last season.
Regardless of who is in the net for the Penguins, he'll be facing a suddenly hot Islanders squad who has won four games in a row and is coming off a 4-0 shutout of the Atlantic Division leading New Jersey Devils yesterday.
While that win over the Devils was favorable for Pittsburgh, don't expect the Islanders -- a team that has always been a thorn in the side of the Penguins -- to give them any similar favors tonight, even though they'll be yet another opponent the Pens face on the second day of back-to-back games.
New York has been playing much better lately, and a big part of that has been the return of franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro.
DiPietro has missed about a year with yet another injury and, after a period of rehabilitation, has looked strong in his return to the net.
The Penguins probably won't see DiPietro tonight, however, since he was responsible for the Islanders' 4-0 whitewashing of the Devils yesterday. The Penguins will likely see Dwayne Roloson instead.
In other injury and roster news, the Penguins should have defenseman Brooks Orpik back in the lineup tonight.
Orpik has missed the last 4 games after suffering another undisclosed injury, this time in Toronto's Air Canada Centre when the Pens played the Maple Leafs there to open their road trip on Saturday, January 9.
While the injury has been undisclosed, it was believed to be another lower-body, ice-induced, no-contact injury, similar to the one Orpik suffered earlier this year in a game against the Boston Bruins.
Orpik has practiced well the last few days and looks ready to go.
To make room for him, the Penguins sent defenseman Ben Lovejoy back down to Wilkes Barre.
Lovejoy joined the team on their recently-completed road trip for their 2nd game against Minnesota, and played in all 4 contests the remainder of the trip. Moreover, he looked good doing it. He kept veteran Martin Skoula in the press box during that period and finished plus 3 over the course of those games -- including a +1 in the Pens' blowout loss at Vancouver on Saturday.
Lovejoy is now +8 on the year in his limited action.
I was a bit surprised Lovejoy was sent down, because he's looked very solid with the team in nearly every game he played this season. In fact, I thought he's played well enough to stick around, but sending him down may only be temporary, because it's very possible that Pittsburgh might move a defenseman at the trade deadline and call up Lovejoy then.
LW Luca Caputi joined Lovejoy in being sent down to the Baby Penguins, after being a scratch in the last 3 games of the road trip.
Caputi looked good at the outset of his call-up, but tailed off rapidly after that. It's clear that he needs to bulk up some to handle the physicality at the NHL level. While his 6' 2" frame helps him, the mere 180 pounds he carries on it does not. He needs to be at 190 or 195.
As far as the action on the ice is concerned, I'm anxious to see if the Penguins get back into their groove tonight.
They started to gain some traction on their road trip and, while Saturday's loss could be the seed that reverses that grip, it won't be looked at as anything more than a bump in the road if the Penguins get back on the winning track this evening.
To do that, they'll need to be sure they aren't looking ahead to their first matchup of the season against arch-rival Washington at the Arena on Thursday night.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
NOTES: Penguins' assistant coach Mike Yeo spoke publicly yesterday for the first time since sustaining some kind of undisclosed medical problem starting at the conclusion of the Penguins' loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, January 2. While there has been a lot of speculation about why Yeo needed medical attention after that loss, Yeo said yesterday that his problem was blood-pressure related and that, while his tests have come back fine, he is now on medication for the condition. He should be back behind the bench tonight.
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