The Penguins have to be feeling better about themselves after holding off the Islanders, 2-1, in Game 2 which means they are heading to Long Island tied at a game apiece rather than trailing two games to none.
There was no practice today, termed a "travel day," although Mike Sullivan did speak with reporters from the Lemieux UPMC facility in Cranberry before departing. His daily update regarding the injured Evgeni Malkin and Casey DeSmith remained the same but it sounds worse for his back-up goaltender.
"Geno will come on the trip, Casey will not," Sullivan said, "they did not skate today."
We'll see if Malkin skates Thursday morning and even then will probably be a "game time decision." DeSmith status, however, has to be a concern since unless he joins his teammates in New York for game 4 the earliest he would be cleared to play would be Monday in Game 5 at PPG Paints Arena.
DeSmith hasn't played since May 3rd in Philadelphia when he left after two periods - and after giving up 4 goals on 37 shots – with what we came to find out was a lower body injury. He returned to practice a week-and-a-half later but apparently aggravated that lower body injury and has been out ever since.
Maxime Legace – who shut out Buffalo in the season finale when Jarry was also nursing an injury - is now Jarry's back-up.
