PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Known to be without Evgeni Malkin to start the season at the two-time defending champions, the Pens are without a few more players Tuesday night against Tampa Bay.
Pens head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed on Monday Sidney Crosby won't be ready to play after off-season wrist surgery. The Pens captain had been skating with the team. Sullivan says Crosby will also miss the second game, Thursday night against the Panthers.
Crosby's linemate, forward Jake Guentzel, is also out for Tuesday. Guentzel is coming back from COVID-19 protocols and not ready. Same with forward Zach Aston-Reeese. The hope was to have Guentzel help make up for the lack of scoring without the top two centers to begin the season. The 27-year-old had 23 goals and 34 assists in 56 games last season.
Pens ran a top line with Bryan Rust as the only player who started the season with the team in 2020. Rust joined by trade deadline center Jeff Carter and free agent signee Danton Heinen, who comes to the Pens for $1.1 million, yet will be on the number one line. Heinen is a 26-year-old lefty shot who had seven goals and seven assists in 43 games with the Ducks last year.
Evan Rodrigues centered a second line with Kasperi Kapanen and Jason Zucker. Kapanen is arguably the most dynamic player on the Pens roster right now. Zucker is looking for a bounce-back season after just nine goals in 38 games and a minus eight last season.
Teddy Blueger centered a third line with Brock McGinn, the Pens most expensive free agent this off-season, and the return of Dominik Simon. Assuming a contract gets worked out, veteran Brian Boyle is in the middle of the fourth line with Drew O'Connor and Sam Lafferty. Both of those forwards need to help fill the energy gap left from losing Brandon Tanev in the expansion draft.
Kris Letang remains with Brian Dumoulin on the top defensive pairing with Mike Matheson joining John Marino and Chad Ruhwedel on the third group with Marcus Pettersson.
Tristan Jarry expected to start in net against the high-scoring , Stanley Cup champs. Jarry lost the last three post-season games a few months ago giving up a dozen goals in three games.
