In the wake of injuries to goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and winger Beau Bennett, the Penguins have recalled forwards Kevin Porter and Conor Sheary—along with goalie Matt Murray—from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
After skating through the opening two months of the season relatively unscathed, the Pens have been wracked by ailments of late. Pascal Dupuis hung up his skates on December 8 due to health issues. Kris Letang has missed four of the past five games. He’s been placed on injured reserve. Fleury is expected to miss at least 10 days with a concussion. Bennett will be out 4-6 weeks with an upper-body injury, courtesy of a brutal check delivered Monday night by Washington’s T. J. Oshie.
The team’s reeling in the standings, too. The black and gold is 1-3-1 in its past five games; 6-7-3 since beating Edmonton on November 6. Clinging to fifth place in the Metropolitan Division, the Pens presently are on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture looking in.
With the offense sputtering as well, new coach Mike Sullivan scrambled his line combinations—dramatically—at Tuesday’s practice. David Perron filled Bennett’s right-wing slot beside Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz. Evgeni Malkin skated with preseason linemates Sergei Plotnikov and Patric Hornqvist.
The biggest stunner of all? Phil Kessel was bumped to the third line.
“Nothing is etched in stone here,” Sullivan explained. “I’m just trying to go through the process here, where we can try to create a spark and effect some change.”
Among the call-ups, Sheary leads the Baby Pens with 19 assists. The diminutive winger is tied for the club lead in points (25) with Dominik Simon. Porter, who began the season with the Pens, collected five goals and four assists in 16 games at Wilkes-Barre. He’s a plus-11.
The 21-year-old Murray may be the most intriguing of the bunch. A triple AHL award winner last season, the rangy 6’4” netminder has posted a sparkling 1.84 goals-against average, four shutouts, and a .938 save percentage.
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