The Pittsburgh Penguins are facing something of a trap game on Saturday night and they will have to do it without one of their core players.
According to an official report from the Pittsburgh Penguins' organization, head coach Mike Sullivan has confirmed that veteran defenseman Kris Letang will not be suiting up with his teammates this evening when the Penguins face off against the Los Angeles Kings. This is the first official indication we receive that Letang was in fact injured on Friday night.
The Penguins faced off against the Boston Bruins on Friday and although they did emerge victorious from that contest it seems Letang may have paid a price for the victory. Late in the game's 3rd period Bruins forward Joakim Nordstrom slid into Letang as he was attempting to block his shot, or in this case a pass, and took the Penguins star defenseman out at the knees in the process. It was obvious at the time that Letang was in some discomfort and now we know that the incident has cost him some time. That being said Mike Sullivan appears to believe that the Penguins got off light given how dangerous of a play that slide appeared to be.
"He is not going to play tonight," said Sullivan. "He is day-to-day with a lower-body injury... It could have been a lot worse. We’re going to take it each day as it comes. We have other capable guys that can fill in. We have to help each other."
Now I may merely be reading too much into this, but call me crazy if that is not the wording of a coach who does not expect Letang to miss a couple of games. There's been no official comment from the Penguins regarding the exact nature of the injury and Letang's status as day to day won't really mean much until we see him back out on the ice with his teammates either in game or during practice.
As for their match up against the Kings the Penguins are playing in their 2nd game is as many days and with the Kings in full desperation mode at this stage of the season they could prove to be a tough opponent.
