Pittsburgh Penguins: Injury Updates Before Game Two

Game two of the Eastern Conference Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning is tonight. Injury updates and lineup questions are big news leading up to puck drop.

Tonight will be the second game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning. The latter team claimed victory in game one, shutting down the Penguins to win 3-1. In the few days since, we’ve gotten some injury updates and seen a few potential lineup changes.

Olli Maatta appears to be a healthy scratch tonight, which is probably a good thing. His skating has been subpar, as has his general decision-making on the ice. Justin Schultz, who got some looks on the second powerplay unit in practice, will be the probable replacement.

Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang, both of whom were injured in that first game, have been practicing with the team and should be good to go this evening. Letang was, of course, hit from behind into the boards by Ryan Callahan while Dumoulin was boarded by Ondrej Palat.

(Officially, the defensemen will be game-time decisions tonight, but based on morning skate this is what you should expect to see.)

Both Callahan and Palat received penalties during the game but no supplemental discipline. That’s definitely a frustrating decision by the Department of Player Safety, especially because it opens the door to more bad hits throughout the rest of the series. Dirty hits like those are apparently what the DoPS wants to eliminate from the game, but they don’t seem to be doing a very good job at it.

Because neither Callahan nor Palat received suspensions, the Tampa lineup will probably be mostly the same. Tyler Johnson, who was on the receiving end of a knee-on-knee hit from Chris Kunitz in game one, returned during the game and will surely remain in the lineup. The diminutive forward is a big part of the Tampa offense, and even if he’s still a little sore he’ll try to make a big impact.