There is some good news and bad news on the injury front for the Penguins. First, the bad, as the team announced that centers Evgeni Malkin and Teddy Blueger have been placed on injured reserve. Malkin’s move was made retroactive to March 16th while Blueger’s placement is effective one day earlier.
Malkin was injured in Tuesday’s game against Boston in the first period as he played just four shifts. He had been on the best offensive stretch of his season before that, notching four goals and eight assists on an eight-game point streak. It helped turn around what had been a fairly quiet season by his standards as he now has eight goals and 16 assists in 29 games to sit third on the team.
As for Blueger, he’s in the midst of a career year offensively with 15 points in his first 29 games this season. He has also shown improvement at the faceoff dot, winning just over half of his draws which has helped him become a fixture behind Malkin and Sidney Crosby down the middle.
The good news for Pittsburgh is that defenseman John Marino was activated off IR in advance of tonight’s game against New Jersey after missing four games with an upper-body issue. While his offensive numbers have dropped sharply this year with just five points in 26 games after having 26 points in 56 games in his rookie year, Marino has logged heavy minutes on their back end, averaging just shy of 23 per game which makes him a welcome return to their lineup.
The team also announced a series of several roster moves. Wingers Anthony Angello, Frederick Gaudreau, and Colton Sceviour were all recalled from the taxi squad. Sceviour is the most notable of the group having played in 21 games this season although he cleared waivers last Tuesday. Meanwhile, winger Josh Currie and blueliner Josh Maniscalco were recalled to the taxi squad from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in order to keep the taxi squad compliant with at least four players on it.
Is Marino good in his own end? That contract could’ve been a little premature if he was just a one year wonder on the offensive side.
He earned that contract in his own end. I had no idea he had that many points last year, actually.
Now, having said that, overall Marino hasn’t been as good as last year. Not worried, seems like a garden variety sophomore slump.
I just watched Dumoulin crosscheck #59 on NJ face first into the boards with his numbers showing the whole time. NO penalty. THIS was a dirty play. THIS was worthy of a major.
That call on Tanev, OTOH, was such garbage.
On one hand you have the Devils and a young player who you and I never head of and on the other the Bruins and a young player who many know the name because of his father, Mark Tinordi. Missed the play but did Kuokkanan go and stay down? Tinordi did. The garage league looks to see the aftermath and who the players are that were involved before many penalties are called and assessed. It is garbage.