Letang Ill, Misses Hurricanes Game

Defenseman Kris Letang is not in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ lineup for their game against Carolina tonight at PPG Paints Arena.

A team official said that Letang is ill. He did not participate in warmups and Brian Dumoulin was wearing an “A” as an alternate captain, a role usually filled by Letang.

Letang had participated in the Penguins’ practice Monday with no apparent problem.

Although there was no official word on how the makeup of the Penguins’ defense pairings and power-play units would be affected by his absence, during warmups, the pairings had Dumoulin with Jeff Petry, Marcus Pettersson with Jan Rutta and P.O Joseph alongside Chad Ruhwedel.

Letang has one goal and 11 assists in 21 games and averages a team-high 23 minutes, 54 seconds of ice time per game.