Penguins remember Helberg, try new line combinations in practice

The Penguins have officially recalled goaltender Marcus Helberg, but this appears to be just a precautionary measure.

Mike Sullivan is one of the NHL’s goalies. I wasn’t feeling it Well, recently. Helberg did not practice with the team today and Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic were both ready, so there’s that.

The Penguins actually tried some new combinations.

Rickard Raquel – Sidney Crosby – Brian Rust
Drew O’Connor – Evgeni Malkin – Matthew Phillips
Riley Smith – Lars Eller – Valtteri Pustinen
Jansen Harkins – Jeff Carter – Colin White

PO Joseph / Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves / Chad Ruhwedel

Jesse Puljujarvi and John Ludvig will be extras in tomorrow night’s game against the Islanders and could be scratches.

The biggest change is that Phillips and Joseph have been given a chance.

Phillips probably figures to be second-line in terms of usage and playing time, much like Pulju Jarvi before him (about 14 hours), but a chance is a chance. The Malkin line needs something, and the diminutive Phillips has some skill if he can find the time and space to operate.

Defensively, Joseph’s promotion from healthy to top pair is a real change of pace. It also speaks to how fluid and uninspiring the left-side defensive play has been lately (the rise of Ryan Graves post-All-Star is no different).

both Kris Letang And Erik Karlsson said in another interview that he is looking for a spark today. This perfect phrase seems to be popular among the team right now.

Could Phillips or Joseph provide that kind of spark? we will see. Karlsson is above and the team is currently way behind the 8-ball and the playoffs shouldn’t even be mentioned at this point. For now it would be a good start where we can score three or four goals per game and get some wins before time runs out completely.