AN ALREADY BANGED UP PENS BLUELINE GETS MORE TOUGH NEWS

The Penguins will have a depleted defensive group when they take on the New York Rangers on Friday Night. Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan announced on Thursday that defencemen Marcus Pettersson is week-to-week after suffering an upper-body injury in Tuesday's game against Washington, while Juuso Riikola is out "longer term" after also suffering an UBI against Washington.

Earlier in the week, the Penguins lost defenceman Mike Matheson to an upper-body injury, and he was placed on injured reserve retroactive to January 15th. Sullivan mentioned on January 17th that Matheson will be out long-term.

At practice on Thursday, the Penguins had to adjust their defensive pairings accordingly, and there's a strong possibility that 21-year-old Pierre-Olivier Joseph will make his NHL debut on Friday night. Joseph was acquired by the Penguins along with Alex Galchenyuk from Arizona in June 2019.



Those defensive pairings at practice Thursday were: Dumoulin/Letang, Marino/Ceci, and Joseph/Czuczman.

The Penguins currently sit 5th in the MassMutual East Division with a record of 2-2-0 through four games. As mentioned, the Pittsburgh will host the Rangers on Friday, with puck drop set for 7pm ET.

Per Mike Sullivan, Marcus Pettersson is week to week. Juuso Riikola is "longer term."— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) January 21, 2021