With Sam Girard’s availability up in the air, the Penguins swapped out defensemen ahead of tonight’s game with Utah. Recent acquisition Ryan Johnson was sent to the Baby Pens and Ilya Solovyov was recalled.
The burly 6’3” 229-pound Solovyov tallied an assist during his three games in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to go with a plus-6.
Speaking of the Baby Pens, several players are off to hot starts, including forwards Avery Hayes (5 goals, 9 points), Rutger McGroarty (4 goals, 9 points), Atley Calvert (3 goals, 8 points), Mikhail Ilyin (2 goals, 7 points), Tristan Broz (1 goal, 6 points) and Bill Zonnon (3 goals, 5 points).
Defenseman Jake Livanavage (1 goal, 5 points in 5 games) is producing at a point-per-game clip.
Goalies Joel Blomqvist (2.33 GAA, .905 SV%) and Taylor Gauthier (2.71 GAA, .915 SV%) have been solid as well.
The Baby Pens are 3-2-1 with seven points, good for a third-place tie in the AHL Atlantic Division.
