Kris Letang is day-to-day with a lower-body injury and will be out of the lineup Saturday, Mike Sullivan confirmed prior to the game against the Kings.
Letang left Friday's 5-3 win over the Bruins with five minutes remaining in the third period after colliding with Joakim Nordstrom and falling awkwardly to the ice.
Given how much pain Letang appeared to be in after the collision and the possibility of a knee injury, the Penguins have to be relieved that Letang is only considered day-to-day.
"It could have been a lot worse," Sullivan said of Letang's status. "We'll take each day as it comes, and we believe we have capable people that we can put in the lineup. We have enough to win, and that's going to provide more opportunities for other guys to step up and play more significant roles. Guys have got to take advantage of those opportunities."
If the Penguins play Juuso Riikola in Letang's place over Chad Ruhwedel, the Penguins will have all left-handed defensemen in the lineup. Riikola, Jack Johnson, and Jamie Oleksiak are all capable of playing on both sides of the ice, giving Sullivan options in pairings.
"We'll figure it out," Sullivan said of his defense pairings. "That's just part of the challenge. We do have guys that have a comfort level playing there, and we'll have to try to put combinations together that we think are complementary that can help us. It is what it is, it's hard to change."
With Letang out of the lineup, Sullivan said the Penguins will "just have to help each other,” as they do when Letang is healthy.
• There are no changes to the status of Patric Hornqvist and Dominik Simon, neither have resumed skating.
• For the first time since giving up three goals on 10 shots in Ottawa on Nov. 17, Matt Murray will make his first start. The franchise goalie was placed on IR four days later with a lower body injury.
"I know he's anxious, he's excited to get back in the net," Sullivan said. "It's been awhile. We expect Matt to just play his game. That's what he does best. That's how he's helped this team win. We're excited he's back."
In his last five starts before his injury, Murray was 0-3, allowing 18 goals while having a save percentage above .900 just once (Nov. 1 vs. the Islanders).
• Leading the league in hits doesn't rank very high with Sullivan. That's in part because it's an indication that his team isn't controlling the puck or territory. Also, he says, what constitutes a hit varies from building to building in the NHL. It's fairly subjective. In Friday night's win over the Bruins, his team was credited with an astronomical 52 hits. Even if 20 of those hits weren't really hits, it's still a high number.
"I think our guys were committed to playing the game hard," he said, adding, "We want to have an element of physicality to our game because that's how we become a more difficult team to play against."