CHICAGO — Eh. Not just yet.
The Penguins activated Matt Murray from injured reserve Wednesday and reassigned Tristan Jarry to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL, but Murray won't make his full return until this weekend back at PPG Paints Arena.
Murray practiced in full Tuesday afternoon at the United Center, then again at the morning skate Wednesday, but Casey DeSmith will get the start for the 8:08 p.m. game against the Blackhawks, Mike Sullivan confirmed after that skate.
Asked if Murray's healthy enough to play, Sullivan replied, "Yes, he is, but he's only had one practice."
Murray hasn’t played since Nov. 17 after being shut down with a nagging lower-body injury that he said had been getting increasingly worse. The practice Tuesday was his first since then.
"We don't have a lot of practice time," Sullivan continued, referring to the Penguins' ongoing glut of 11 games in 19 days. "So we thought we'd get him a good, solid practice today, and then engage him over the next couple of games here."
Sullivan also acknowledged that "part of" his decision was based on DeSmith's strong performance Monday night in beating the Islanders, 2-1 by shootout, in Uniondale, N.Y. DeSmith made 25 saves, including three in overtime, and he stopped four of five shootout shots, as well.
"He was really good," Sullivan said of DeSmith. "He's really performed well for us over this last stretch of games."
In five December starts, DeSmith is 3-1-1 with a 2.06 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.
Jarry was recalled to Pittsburgh on Nov. 22 and appeared in two games, posting an 0-1-1 record and a 3.50 goals-against average.
Shortly before warmups, the Penguins also activated Matt Cullen from IR. With Sullivan having called Cullen a 'game-time decision' following the skate, that makes it virtually certain he'll play tonight.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE INJURIES
• Penguins: Patric Hornqvist, forward, has an upper-body injury. He was placed on the NHL's Injured Reserve list today, meaning he has to miss seven days. Since that was retroactive to Dec. 6, that week already elapsed. Sullivan dismissed IR as being a paper move and said Hornqvist's status hasn't changed from day-to-day. ... Dominik Simon, forward, is on IR with a lower-body injury. ... Justin Schultz, defenseman, is expected to miss four months after fracturing his leg Oct. 13 in Montreal.
• Blackhawks: Artem Anisimov, forward, is on IR with a concussion.
THE SKATE
• About two-thirds of the roster participated in the optional skate. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang, Tanner Pearson, Brian Dumoulin and Olli Maatta did not take the ice.
• The Blackhawks didn't skate at all, having been in Winnipeg last night for a 6-3 loss. They won't announce a goaltender until an hour or two before faceoff, but it's expected to be Corey Crawford, as Cam Ward started against the Jets.
THE OTHER SIDE
• Facing an opponent that has lost eight in a row tends to motivate coaches to make sure their players take the other guys seriously. But with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook still suiting up here, that clearly won't be necessary, judging by Sullivan's reply to my question on this:
• Jamie Oleskiak, on the same: "You look up and down their lineup, the names they have ... Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabrook ... obviously, they've accomplished some special things. But I honestly think, this league, any team can win any game. You can't sit back in any way and think you're going to win. But Chicago ... wow, no, you can't take that group lightly."
• The Blackhawks made a couple of minor roster moves this morning, recalling forward Dylan Sikura and defenseman Carl Dahlstrom from Rockford of the AHL and reassigning forward Alexandre Fortin.
THE COMBINATIONS
• The Penguins' likely lines and pairs tonight, based on their practice Tuesday:
Guentzel-Crosby-Brassard
Pearson-Malkin-Kessel
Aston-Reese-Sheahan-Rust
Wilson-Grant-Dea
(Cullen)
Dumoulin-Letang
Maatta-Oleksiak
Pettersson-Johnson
(Riikola-Ruhwedel)
• And the same for the Hawks, based on how they rolled (and got steamrolled) last night in Winnipeg:
Saad-Toews-Hayden
Kahun-Kampf-Kane
DeBrincat-Strome-Perlini
Kunitz-Kruger-Sikura
Keith-Jokiharju
Manning-Seabrook
Rutta-Murphy
THE SCHEDULE
The team is off Thursday, an official travel day. The next games are Friday against the Bruins and Saturday against the Kings, both at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena.
THE COVERAGE
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