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UPDATED: Tanev Late Scratch Saturday with Upper Body Injury

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Pittsburgh Penguins, Brandon Tanev, Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger

Pittsburgh Penguins winger Brandon Tanev added to the Penguins injury woes on Saturday when he was unable to complete warmups and was a late scratch for the Penguins 1 p.m. match against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center.

Tanev joined integral lineup regulars Teddy Blueger and Evgeni Malkin, who are on IR. The Penguins activated Jared McCann from IR before the game on Saturday.

Sam Lafferty stepped into Tanev’s familiar third-line LW role.

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said after the game that Tanev is dealing with an upper-body injury.

“He’s being evaluated for an upper-body injury and he’ll continue to be evaluated when we get back to Pittsburgh,” Sullivan said.

Tanev was on a hot streak, perhaps the best of his career. He had eight points in the last eight games (2g, 6a) and 15 points (8g, 7a) in 30 games this season. The Penguins’ third line with Blueger and Aston-Reese had responded to the team’s need for more offense, and Tanev is a plus-11.

He is also one of the Penguins’ primary penalty killers.

Brandon Tanev is in the second year of a six-year, $21 million free-agent deal he signed on July 1, 2019. He is fourth in the NHL and second among forwards with 133 hits.

The Pittsburgh Penguins Twitter account confirmed Tanev dressed for warmups but could not play due to injury, though the account did not give specifics.