Penguins Tweak Lineup for First Time Since Opener

The Penguins practiced at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex for the second day in a row before flying to St. Louis, where they’ll face the Blues on Saturday at 8 PM Eastern time.

Kris Letang and Noel Acciari both took part after missing Thursday’s session, as the defenseman was being evaluated for a lower-body injury, and the forward was being evaluated for an upper-body injury. Head Coach Mike Sullivan anticipates both players being available for tomorrow night’s contest.

After keeping the same opening-night roster through the first four games of the season, where the Penguins have gone 2-2, the team is making a lineup change or two as they work towards finding their identity.

“I think that's part of every start of the season,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “Especially with so many new guys, I think you expect that to be the case. You just want to try to fast-track as best you can… I think we have some speed, so we want to make sure we're playing fast. But making sure that we limit odd-man rushes, that we're good defensively and strong there. So, when I say identity, I think it's more just consistently doing things that are our strengths, and that lead to winning games.”

In order to do that, the Penguins are tweaking a bottom-six forward group that’s had some momentum-generating shifts but is struggling to produce, placing winger Jansen Harkins on waivers. Matt Nieto moved up to the third line, while injured defenseman Will Butcher served as a placeholder on the fourth line until the Penguins could recall Radim Zohorna from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The Penguins also switched up the third D pairing, separating P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel, who didn’t have their best in Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to Detroit. Today’s workflow looked like this…

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell

Drew O’Connor-Lars Eller-Matt Nieto

(Will Butcher)-Noel Acciari-Jeff Carter

Ryan Graves-Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea-Chad Ruhwedel

P.O Joseph-John Ludvig

If Shea does get in against the Blues, it will mark his NHL debut after spending the first three seasons of his professional career with the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League.

“It would be a dream come true,” the 26-year-old defenseman said. “It’d be great to get in the lineup, whenever that is. Obviously, I can't really control that. That’s up to the coaches. I just got to keep doing my part, making the guys better and making myself better.”

The Penguins targeted Shea during free agency as part of their search to find players who brought different utilities, whether it was size, strength, physicality or penalty killing ability. Sullivan said that Shea is an intelligent player and deceptive playmaker who’s good with the puck and can help the Penguins exit their zone; defends well with his stick; and can log shorthanded minutes.

“I think his pace of play is improving with every practice that he has with us. So, we've really liked what we've seen from Ryan to this point,” Sullivan said. “We'll continue to work with him here moving forward. But all of these guys are in the conversation on whether or not they go in the lineup for us.”

As for Zohorna, the Penguins are familiar with his game, as the big forward is in his second stint with the organization. They had been impressed with his performance at training camp, with Sullivan saying that his re-assignment to WBS revolved more around flexibility in the roster, with President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas speaking with Zohorna about how his situation was the business of the game at work.

But as Dubas and Sullivan have reiterated multiple times, competition for spots didn’t end when training camp did, and now Zohorna is getting a well-deserved chance with the big club.

“Every year when he comes back, he’s stronger, his fitness level improves,” Sullivan said. “I think he’s more comfortable in his surroundings. He’s played a number of games for us. His confidence level increases. I think he realizes that he can play in this league, and he can be an effective player. That’s my observation of when he comes back. He’s just a more polished version of himself and I think he has more of a comfort level in his own game and the surroundings around him.”