The Pittsburgh Penguins lineup got a little jolt Tuesday when coach Mike Sullivan decided to re-insert Jesse Puljujarvi onto the third line, but it got a major jolt when Evgeni Malkin was not on the ice for warmups.
Malkin, 38, participated in the morning skate at the UPMC Lemieux Complex Tuesday and has played all 41 games this season. He’s also played all 82 games in each of the last two seasons, which makes Tuesday his first absence since the 2021-22 season.
This season, Malkin has 32 points, including eight goals, in 41 games.
UPDATE: The Penguins announced Malkin is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
The pivot was expected to center Michael Bunting and Cody Glass. However, without Malkin, Glass slid to second-line center with Bunting and Anthony Beauvillier. The rest of the lines remained the same from the morning skate:
Penguins Lines
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting-Cody Glass-Anthony Beauvillier
Drew O’Connor-Kevin Hayes-Jesse Puljujarvi
Matt Nieto-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Defense
Marcus Pettersson-Kris Letang
Matt Grzelcyk-Erik Karlsson
Owen Pickering-P.O Joseph
