The Pittsburgh Penguins will try to build on Thursday’s 4-0 shutout of the Florida Panthers when they host the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, but they must do so without Evgeni Malkin.
Coach Dan Muse confirmed that the veteran center is sidelined by an illness, opening the door for Avery Hayes to draw into the lineup.
Malkin’s absence removes a player who contributed a goal and an assist in the win over Florida and leaves the Penguins short another experienced offensive option on a roster already thinned by injuries.
With Malkin out, Nick Robertson is projected to slide into a top-six role alongside Ville Koivunen and Hendrix Lapierre. Robertson enters the game tied with Malkin for the team lead in goals with six and delivered a standout moment in Thursday’s shutout.
The rest of the projected forward lines keep Tommy Novak with Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell on the top unit, while Andrei Kuzmenko, Blake Lizotte, and Rutger McGroarty form the third line.
McGroarty made his season debut in the Florida game. On the fourth line, Elmer Soderblom and Connor Dewar are expected to flank Hayes, with Dewar coming off a two-point effort.
On the blue line, Spencer Stastney continues alongside Erik Karlsson, a pairing that produced an assist and a plus-three rating for Stastney against the Panthers.
Declan Carlile and Kaedan Korczak are projected as the second pair, with Ilya Solovyov and Kris Letang completing the group. Chase Pietila is the healthy scratch.
Beyond Malkin, the Penguins remain without Bryan Rust, Ben Kindel, Justin Brazeau, Ryan Graves, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Samuel Girard, and Egor Chinakhov.
In net, Arturs Silovs gets the start after recording his second shutout of the season against Florida, turning aside 26 shots. He is 4-3-0 with a .885 save percentage and 3.01 goals-against average.
Nashville will counter with Juuse Saros, who owns a 3-2-2 record, 2.82 goals-against average, and .907 save percentage.
The Predators arrive after a 6-0 loss in Boston and rank near the bottom of the league in goals scored through nine games.
Saturday’s matchup at PPG Paints Arena offers the Penguins a chance to string together consecutive wins if they can generate enough offense without Malkin and receive another strong showing from Silovs.
Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT.
