1. Jarry, DeSmith day-to-day
Goaltenders Tristan Jarry (upper-body) and Casey DeSmith (lower-body) did not skate, and both are considered day-to-day. Head coach Mike Sullivan said they will be available for Game 1 of the playoffs, but neither will dress tomorrow.
The Penguins' starter will be announced in the morning before the game, which is scheduled for 3 PM. It will likely be Maxime Lagace, who has served as the backup for five total games this season with Pittsburgh, including the last two.
"We'll expect our goalies to make the timely saves to give this team a chance to win," Sullivan said. "There hasn't been a position to this point that hasn't been challenged (depth-wise) on our team, so it's just one more challenge for us to finish off this regular season the right way, and that's what our expectation is."
The 28-year-old netminder, who joined the Penguins organization this offseason as a free agent, has 17 games of NHL experience with the Vegas Golden Knights from 2017-19. Lagace's last NHL start came on Feb. 1, 2019 against Carolina.
He has spent this year split between the taxi squad and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he has compiled a 4-3-2 record, 2.30 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. When speaking with the media earlier this season, Lagace said his biggest focus was staying ready and staying in shape on the chance he did get a call.
"I've been in this position before where you just wait for your time," Lagace said. "I'm trying to have fun with it. Obviously I'm not trying to put too much pressure. If anything happens, I just go in and have fun. I know what I can do. I'm old enough to keep it simple and just try to get better every day and good things will eventually happen. So for now it's just staying ready, staying healthy, and practice every day hard and time will tell again."
2. Tanev hopes to return for the start of playoffs
Winger Brandon Tanev had his third practice with full contact. He will not play tomorrow, but is making progress in his recovery from an upper-body injury and hopes to be ready for the start of the postseason.
That was originally supposed to be May 11, but is now TBD after the NHL regular season was extended to accommodate the Vancouver Canucks after their COVID-19 outbreak. The silver lining is that Tanev will get plenty of opportunities for more full-contact sessions in the near future.
"I'm starting to feel better, and it's been nice to skate with the team," Tanev said. "The team's playing really well right now. Looking forward to the next week here in practice and working with the guys and building confidence and having fun out there."
