Penguins Demote Blomqvist; Recall Nieto and a Prospect

The Pittsburgh Penguins used their travel day to end the three-goalie rotation, which would have likely prevented any of their goalies from finding enough time to find a rhythm. Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas announced the team sent Joel Blomqvist to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The move leaves Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic as the two remaining goalies. Blomqvist was stellar as the Penguins beat the Washington Capitals last Friday. Blomqvist stopped 32 of 34 shots in the 4-2 win. However, he allowed a couple of bad goals in the opening minutes of the Penguins 7-1 loss to the Dallas Stars and didn’t finish the first period before coach Mike Sullivan replaced him with Nedeljkovic.

Blomqvist, 22, was 3-5-0 with a .904 save percentage.

The Penguins also recalled a pair of forwards amid uncertainty regarding center Blake Lizotte. Lizotte was felled by a puck to the face in the first period Wednesday night and did not return to the game.

The Penguins recalled Matt Nieto from his conditioning assignment and they will need to activate him from the long-term injured reserve list before he can play, but following the Lars Eller trade on Tuesday, the Penguins have nearly $1.8 million of available salary cap space. Nieto makes only $900,000.

Nieto has not played in the NHL since suffering a knee injury in November 2023. He suffered a setback in January and has had at least two surgeries. He’s played just 22 games with the Penguins, registering four points (1-3-4).

The Penguins also called up prospect Vasily Ponomarev, who was acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade last March. Ponomarev has endured a couple of more serious injuries since arriving. Just four games into his WBS Penguins tenure in March, he suffered a high ankle sprain, which ended his season. He was also injured in training camp, forcing him to miss most of the preseason. He recently returned to the WBS lineup and is scoreless in five games.

The call-ups give the Penguins 13 forwards, pending Lizotte’s status or additional moves by Dubas.