Bjugstad Back On The Shelf, Maybe For Rest Of Season

Pittsburgh Penguins center Nick Bjugstad did not participate in the team’s morning skate Tuesday in Newark, N.J., and is back on the shelf. He could miss the rest of the regular season.

Coach Mike Sullivan said Bjugstad is out “week to week” because of a lower body injury. There are about four weeks left before the playoffs.

Bjugstad has played in three games, with one assist, since returning from core muscle surgery. Sullivan said this latest injury is not related to the surgically repaired problem.

The Penguins rarely hold game-day morning skates except in circumstances such as Tuesday, when the team has a day off from practice the day before. The Penguins did not practice Monday.

Sullivan said Matt Murray will start in goal Tuesday night against New Jersey. He started three straight games before Tristan Jarry was in net Sunday against Carolina.

It’s unclear whether this is a sign the Penguins are going to give Murray a chance to get the majority of the starts to be the No. 1 as the playoffs near, or they are going back to a rotation of the two goalies.

The lines and pairings at the morning skate:

#Pens lines in Jersey:
Zucker-Crosby-Sheary
Marleau-Malkin-Rust
Rodrigues-McCann-Hornqvist
Tanev-Blueger-Lafferty
(Bjugstad is not on the ice)

Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Johnson-Schultz
Riikola-Ruhwedel pic.twitter.com/yQSg1T6tXB

— Josh Getzoff (@PensJG) March 10, 2020