Penguins’ Kris Letang day-to-day with lower-body injury
Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan announced that defenseman Kris Letang is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and will not play in Tuesday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.
Full team skate in Detroit this morning!
🐧Alex Nedeljkovic starts 🥅
🐧 Marcus Pettersson looks likely to return after skating with P.O. Joseph on 2nd D-Pair
🐧Owen Pickering practiced at full capacity but won’t play tonight
🐧Kris Letang is day-to-day (lower-body injury) pic.twitter.com/CX41FYAB8R
Letang had missed Sunday’s 3-2 win over the New York Islanders with an injury, although after playing 25:04 in Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Islanders, it’s not known how he sustained the injury. His timeline for return was unknown up to this point, but Sullivan confirmed after the Penguins’ morning skate that it’s only a day-to-day concern.
Letang is scoring goals at a higher rate than usual, but overall is not producing like what we’ve come to expect from him over the course of his career. In 34 games this season, he has 7 goals and 9 assists for 13 points.
Letang’s absence does make room for defenseman Marcus Pettersson to return to the lineup for the Penguins. Pettersson had missed the past six games with a lower-body injury. Pittsburgh has gone 4-2-0 in his absence.
Pettersson has been producing at a career-best pace when he has played this season, with 2 goals and 11 assists for 13 points in 32 games. He was on pace for 33 points had he played all 82 games this year, which would beat his previous career high of 30 set last season.
Pettersson is slated to return to the lineup on the second pair alongside Pierre-Olivier Joseph in his return. With Joseph being acquired from the St. Louis Blues after Pettersson was injured, this duo has yet to play together this season. However, they have spent 67:57 together in the three prior seasons during Joseph’s previous stint with the Penguins, outscoring opposition 6-2 and sporting a 50.69% 5v5 score-adjusted expected goal share in that time.
The Penguins will look to build off of Sunday’s win when they visit the Red Wings on Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST. Pittsburgh currently sits in fourth in the Metropolitan Division with a 17-16-5 record, and are one point behind the Ottawa Senators for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, although the Senators have two games in hand.