Penguins’ Blake Lizotte a game-time decision vs. Anaheim, could make season debut
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Pittsburgh Penguins forward Blake Lizotte could be in line to make his season debut with the club Thursday night at home vs. the Anaheim Ducks.
As a result of a freak accident toward the end of the preseason, Lizotte saw the start to his first year with the Penguins put on hold.
During the Penguins’ Sept. 29 Kraft Hockeyville game vs. the Ottawa Senators, Lizotte was struck by an errant puck while on the bench, resulting in a concussion.
That landed him on injured reserve to begin the season.
“I don’t think anybody wants to be injured preseason,” Lizotte said. “But especially the way it happened was frustrating. But that’s hockey and sports. And that’s life. I try not to dwell on the bad things too much.”
During the Penguins’ Thursday morning skate in Cranberry, he centered the club’s fourth line.
Lizotte signed with the Penguins over the summer, inking a two-year contract through 2025-26 worth $1.85 million annually. He had played the entirety of his career with the Los Angeles Kings.
In 320 career games over parts of six seasons, he scored 37 goals with 69 assists.
Lizotte was formally taken off injured reserve Thursday evening.
“It’s been a long few weeks, a month or so,” he said. “Being with a new team, it’s exciting to have a chance to get in the action and be with the guys.”
Notes:
• Per coach Mike Sullivan, Alex Nedeljkovic will start in net Thursday. Through three starts, Nedeljkovic is 0-2-1 with a 3.94 goals-against average and .874 save percentage.
• Forwards Bryan Rust and Matt Nieto remain status quo with their injuries. Rust is out week-to-week on injured reserve with an unspecified ailment while Nieto, who is back to skating with the team in practice, remains on long-term injured reserve as he recovers from offseason knee surgery.
• The Penguins activated forward Vasily Ponomarev from the injured non-roster list and assigned him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League Thursday.
The Penguins deployed the following lines, defensive pairings and power-play groups Thursday morning:
71 Evgeni Malkin – 87 Sidney Crosby – 67 Rickard Rakell
10 Drew O’Connor – 20 Lars Eller – 48 Valtteri Puustinen
8 Michael Bunting – 19 Cody Glass – 55 Noel Acciari
13 Kevin Hayes – 46 Blake Lizotte – 72 Anthony Beauvillier
24 Matt Grzelcyk – 58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson – 65 Erik Karlsson
27 Ryan Graves – 3 Jack St. Ivany
Jesse Puljujarvi skated as a reserve forward while Ryan Shea and Nieto did so as a fourth defensive pairing.
First power play: Crosby, Malkin, Karlsson, Letang, Rakell
Second power play: Grzelcyk, Eller, Bunting, Hayes, Puustinen