Canucks at Penguins preview

CANUCKS (3-2-0) at PENGUINS (2-1-1)
7 p.m. ET; SN1, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

After sustaining a concussion during practice Oct. 8, No. 1 goalie Matt Murray missed Pittsburgh's 4-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 11 before backing up DeSmith in its 4-3 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 13. Murray will back up DeSmith again Tuesday.
The Canucks will be without center Elias Pettersson, who is in concussion protocol after being injured on a hit by Florida Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson on Saturday. Pettersson, 19, leads NHL rookies in goals (five) and points (eight).
Vancouver recalled forward
Adam Gaudette
, who is expected to replace Pettersson at second-line center, on Monday.
After losing two of their first three games, the Canucks have won their past two.

Players to watch

Canucks center Bo Horvat has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past four games. He scored the game-winning goal at 6:11 of the third period in a 3-2 win against the Panthers on Saturday.
Penguins forward Phil Kessel has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past two games.

They said it

"I want to see him there. ... He's a young guy we want to work in and that's the direction that we need to go." -- Canucks coach Travis Green on playing Adam Gaudette at second-line center
"It doesn't take away from the fact that [Murray is] our No. 1 goalie. ... It gives Matt another couple of days to get some practice time and get some rest." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan on starting Casey DeSmith for a third straight game

Canucks projected lineup

Sven Baertschi -- Bo Horvat -- Brock Boeser
Nikolay Goldobin -- Adam Gaudette -- Loui Eriksson
Antoine Roussel -- Brandon Sutter -- Jake Virtanen
Tim Schaller -- Markus Granlund -- Tyler Motte
Alexander Edler -- Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton -- Erik Gudbranson
Derrick Pouliot -- Troy Stecher
Anders Nilsson
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched: Michael Del Zotto, Brendan Leipsic
Injured:Elias Pettersson (concussion), Jay Beagle (broken hand)

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Derick Brassard
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Phil Kessel
Patric Hornqvist -- Riley Sheahan -- Bryan Rust
Dominik Simon -- Matt Cullen -- Daniel Sprong
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Jack Johnson -- Jamie Oleksiak
Olli Maatta -- Juuso Riikola
Casey DeSmith
Matt Murray
Scratched: Chad Ruhwedel, Derek Grant
Injured: Justin Schultz (left leg fracture)

Status report

With Beagle out six weeks, the Canucks likely will use Granlund at fourth-line center Tuesday. ... Schultz is expected to miss four months after undergoing surgery Sunday. The Penguins, who had an optional morning skate Tuesday, kept their top defense pair of Dumoulin and Letang the same in practice Monday with the remaining five defensemen rotating.

Stat pack

Baertschi has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past three games. … Letang needs one goal to reach 100 in his NHL career.