The Pittsburgh Penguins just dropped another game to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night after blowing a 3-0 lead going into the third period. It seemed like the Penguins got out of the game injury free as there was no visible injury among any of the players.
But that was assumed to be wrong. The Penguins on Tuesday announced some roster moves. They announced that they moved forwards Noel Acciari and Justin Brazeau along with goaltender Tristan Jarry to IR. And their corresponding moves were calling up forward Danton Heinen, defenseman Ryan Graves, goaltender Sergei Murashov from the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, and sending defenseman Owen Pickering down to Wilkes-Barre.
That is a ton of roster moves and a lot of things to maneuver in the current Penguins lineup. The Penguins are used to having a second line of Anthony Mantha-Evgeni Malkin-Brazeau, but Brazeau has missed the last two games with injury and will now miss more time.
Acciari is used to playing on the fourth line with forwards Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar, but Acciari will now miss some time. The Penguins will miss Acciari's presence as he is so good at blocking shots and playing on the penalty kill for the Penguins.
Sending Pickering down is not that bad of a move as he did not look good in the last couple of games for the Penguins. But the expense is calling Ryan Graves back up as he has not been good in his Penguins tenure the last couple years, but he deserves one last chance.
Murashov finally gets his NHL call-up and will likely be the backup to Arturs Silovs while Jarry is on the shelf. The Penguins definitely did not want to call Murashov up so soon but it seems they had no choice.
Heinen has been tearing up the AHL and could definitely slot into the Penguins lineup and provide some juice if head coach Dan Muse goes that direction. Heinen has been scoring like crazy down in Wilkes Barre so calling him up was a no-brainer.