UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Casey DeSmith hasn't faced shots in a game since a 4-3 shootout victory Feb. 11 at Nassau Coliseum, but that's about to change.
Mike Sullivan announced that DeSmith will be in goal when the Penguins face the New York Islanders at 5:08 p.m., snapping a streak of seven consecutive starts by Tristan Jarry.
Jarry is the Penguins' undisputed No. 1 goalie -- and has very much looked the part lately -- but DeSmith has put up better personal statistics this season.
He is 4-1, with a 2.84 goals-against average and .885 save percentage. Jarry is 7-6-1, with a 3.14 and .894.
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• Kris Letang, who scored the overtime winner in the Penguins' 4-3 victory at Nassau Coliseum Saturday night, logged a team-high 25 minutes and six seconds of ice time in that game. That's a fairly typical workload for him even though, with games beginning just 22 hours apart, Sullivan might have preferred to use him -- and other guys who log big minutes -- a bit less. "We certainly go into the game thinking about utilizing the whole bench, as best we can," Sullivan said. "But circumstances throughout the course of the game are going to dictate how that all plays out. When two points are on the line and we have the ability to win the game, that becomes the priority at some point."
• Although Sam Lafferty was in the middle of the Penguins' fourth line Saturday, filling in for injured center Mark Jankowski, Sullivan said the coaching staff views him primarily as a winger. "We see him more as a win, but he has the ability to play center," Sullivan said. "He's played center in the past. ... The versatility and having the ability to play both, depending on what the need of the time is at the time, is an important aspect of Sam's game, as well."
• Sullivan described the performance of the Marcus Pettersson-Letang defense pairing Saturday as "a decent job." it is not known if they will play together this evening.