Penguins take one step forward and two steps backward with injury news

The Pittsburgh Penguins are getting set to take on the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning at home at PPG Paints Arena, but are going to be getting a key player back from injury for the game and will be without a key player.

The Penguins will be getting forward Bryan Rust back from injury after missing Saturday and Sunday's losses to the Calgary Flames and the Boston Bruins. Rust slotted back in on the top line with Rickard Rakell and Sidney Crosby at line rushes on Tuesday morning.

But the Penguins got hit with the injury bug again as superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and will be re-evaluated in two weeks. That is a big blow to the defense as Karlsson is one of the most consistent players on the blueline for Pittsburgh.

It seems like every time the Penguins get somebody back from injury, they are losing another guy. It is going to be an uphill battle without Karlsson as he plays a bunch of minutes every game and is usually the Penguins powerplay quarterback on the first unit.

They are going to have to get creative on the backend and the powerplay unit without Erik Karlsson. The fact that they are losing him now with a big game against one of the top teams in the Atlantic and then the rest of the week being Metro division opponents and then the next week being the Canada trip, it's a hard pill to swallow.

But getting Rust back is a huge deal as the Penguins get a lot of their offense from him as well. But when Rust going down for the past two games and the Penguins offense getting next to nothing going, was a huge red flag.

But the Penguins need to do everything they can to get around this injury bug and try to win games without Karlsson. Getting Rust back now at this time is huge for the schedule ahead.