The Penguins could get center Evgeni Malkin back for one of the next two games in their first-round series against the Islanders but the same can’t be said for goaltender Casey DeSmith. Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Malkin accompanied the team to New York while DeSmith did not. Malkin is believed to be dealing with a recurrence of the knee trouble that caused him to miss most of the second half of the season while DeSmith has missed the last two-plus weeks due to an undisclosed injury. Game three of that series goes on Thursday.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- Flames winger Dillon Dube is in concussion protocol after being injured in today’s regular season finale against Vancouver, relays Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson (Twitter link). The 22-year-old is supposed to join Team Canada for the upcoming World Championships but unless he is cleared quickly, he may no longer be able to participate.
- Red Wings center Dylan Larkin won’t need surgery due to the neck injury he suffered late in the season, mentions Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News. He expects to be able to resume training in a month and should be ready to go for 2021-22 where he’ll hope to rebound from a quiet campaign that saw him pick up just 23 points in 44 games.
- Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin was out of the lineup for tonight’s second game against Nashville. As Michael Smith of Carolina’s team website notes (Twitter link), the blueliner will be a game-time decision for a while with Slavin ultimately making the decision on when he’ll be able to suit up. He suffered a lower-body injury in their final regular season game and clearly, he has not quite recovered from it just yet.