PITTSBURGH – Prior to taking their three-game road trip out West, the Pittsburgh Penguins have made a couple of adjustments to their lines. An injury to Jeff Carter has prompted the moves for the forwards, and a young defenseman might finally be his break on the blue line.
At the most recent Penguins’ practice, the first three forward lines remained untouched, while Jesse Puljujarvi returned to the fourth line. With Carter out on a day-to-day basis, Puljujarvi has slotted back into the lineup after six games on the shelf as a healthy scratch.
Puljujarvi has only appeared in 11 games with the Penguins since signing a two-year deal in early February. In those 11 contests, he has scored just one goal and averaged 10:15 of ice time.
Jonathan Gruden played in place of Carter against the New Jersey Devils, but the Penguins re-assigned him to the AHL. In his place, defenseman Jack St. Ivany was recalled back to the NHL level.
St. Ivany was a healthy scratch for a pair of games in his first recall and is still hunting down his NHL debut. During the team workout, St. Ivany rotated on the third pairing with Ryan Graves and John Ludvig.
Blue liner P.O. Joseph was pushed back to the top line with Kris Letang and Marcus Pettersson was moved to the second with Erik Karlsson.
As an injury update, head coach Mike Sullivan has stated that Carter will travel with the team on their trip.
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