Report: Pens locker room hints at lineup change

Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has been part hockey coach, part human resources manager this postseason given the amount of time he’s had to deal with personnel issues amongst his group. The Penguins have seen more players enter and leave the lineup due to injury than seemingly any other NHL team, yet they continue to soldier on and, in fact, are just one victory away from returning to the Stanley Cup Finals.

One interesting tidbit from the team’s practice facility today, forwards Patric Hornqvist, Tom Kuhnhackl and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel did not have locker room stalls assigned to them. Even more interesting is the fact that injured defenseman Justin Schultz DID have an assigned stall? Sign of things to come? Could Schultz suit up tonight against the Sens?

Sullivan maintains that Schultz likely won’t play tonight, but why assign him a stall if they plan to at least dress him for warmup? Maybe the Penguins are simply trying to play mind games with the Senators coaching staff? Whatever the reasoning, it’s a compelling development in what’s sure to be a fantastic hockey game.