After being evaluated following a tough sequence in Tuesday’s win over Anaheim, all of Tristan Jarry’s testing came back positive.
The only challenge, said head coach Mike Sullivan, is that Jarry’s right eye is closed with the swelling that came from getting hit with a puck after his helmet got slightly dislodged.
“So, he's got a little bit of limited vision with just the swelling in his eye. When that goes down, I think he'll be good to go,” Sullivan said. “His status right now would be day-to-day. We'll just have to wait and see.”
He won't play tonight in Los Angeles, which means Magnus Hellberg gets his first start of the year in the final game of Pittsburgh’s three-game California road trip. Penguins 2020 second-round draft pick Joel Blomqvist will back up after getting the first recall of his NHL career.
The 21-year-old Finnish netminder is off to a terrific start in his first season of pro hockey in North America, posting a 4-2 record, a .920 save percentage and 1.91 goals-against average with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
Sullivan said everyone in the Penguins organization is excited about Blomqvist’s performance to this point. While it’s a relatively small sample size and Blomqvist needs to play more, Sullivan said the young goaltender has a lot of potential.
“He's played very well,” Sullivan said. “Blommer’s a real good goalie. He's a really positionally sound goalie. I think he has a high hockey IQ. He reads plays very well. He's a bright prospect for us, and he's played very well in his time there so far. We're excited about potentially where his game might go moving forward.”
READ: Talented Young Goaltender Joel Blomqvist Taking Next Step with Penguins
The Penguins had to make some roster moves to bring Blomqvist up, placing defenseman John Ludvig – injured in his NHL debut on Oct. 24 versus Dallas – on injured reserve; and re-assigning forward Vinnie Hinostroza – who has been in the lineup for the past two wins – to WBS.
That means Jeff Carter will slot back in after being a healthy scratch for the first time in his career, going up against his longtime former teammates. The two-time Stanley Cup Champion with Los Angeles in 2012 and ’14 spent 10 seasons with the Kings before the Penguins acquired him.
