Some more notable starters are seeing preseason action tonight for the Penguins after Bryan Rust and Kris Letang took the ice in Monday night’s win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will both be playing Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings’ preseason squad, according to the Penguins.
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They’ll be joined by some familiar names in Rickard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov, Tommy Novak, Ilya Solovyov, Sam Girard and Artūrs Šilovs. Ville Koivunen is back for his first game action since signing his eight-year extension last month.
Joining them will be a few names from Pensburgh’s top 25 under 25 list, including Markus and Liam Ruck, Mikhail Ilyin, Finn Harding, Bill Zonnon and Tomas Galvas.
Other players to keep an eye on include winger Nick Robertson, who is appearing in his first action for the Penguins, as well as Rutger McGroarty, who is beginning his next campaign for a permanent NHL roster spot.
McGroarty’s path to the 23-man roster might have gotten tougher Monday night thanks to strong play from Filip Hallander and Tristan Broz to go along with a highlight-reel goal from Avery Hayes.
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Which players will end up on the Penguins’ active roster at the start of the regular season isn’t the only decision head coach Dan Muse and the front office will need to make this week. The Pens are also working on testing out new special teams combinations.
One change from Monday included adding Elmer Söderblom to the penalty kill, although Muse said after the game he hadn’t yet decided if Söderblom will maintain that role in the regular season.
Other notable takeaways from the win over the Sabres included some early chemistry between Bryan Rust and offseason addition Andrei Kuzmenko as well as strong play from goaltender Sergei Murashov ahead of what could be his first full-time season in Pittsburgh.
The biggest story from Monday night was arguably the lower-body injury that ended Ben Kindel’s night in the second period against the Sabres. Muse said when speaking to reporters after the game Kindel was still being evaluated.
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The Penguins will hope for a positive injury update regarding Kindel, who was one of the best forwards on Monday’s ice prior to his injury, before the second game of the shortened preseason kicks off tonight at 7 p.m. ET.
The Penguins will then have just two more preseason matchups (Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres) before kicking off the regular season a week from Wednesday at the Philadelphia Flyers.
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