Penguins Practice: Jarry Absent; Tanev, Blueger Return

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry is absent at practice Wednesday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, a sign that he will apparently miss some time because of an injury he got Monday.

Update: Head coach Mike Sullivan announced Jarry will be day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jarry started Monday’s home game against the New York Islanders and stopped all five shots he faced in the first period with no outward sign of a problem. But he did not return to the net or even the bench after that, and Sullivan referred to an upper-body injury.

Casey DeSmith replaced Tristan Jarry and stopped 19 of 20 Islanders shots in a 2-1 Penguins win. DeSmith will be the go-to goalie if Jarry misses any time.

The Penguins have Maxime Lagace and Emil Larmi on the taxi squad. One could easily be recalled to the NHL roster before the team kicks off its longest road trip of the season Thursday at Boston.

Lagace, 28, would be the most likely to dress in Jarry’s absence. He joined DeSmith at practice Wednesday. Although he has spent most of his career in the minor leagues, Lagace has played in 17 NHL games, going 6-8-1 with a 3.92 goals-against average and an .868 save percentage.

Larmi has yet to make his NHL debut. He became the Pittsburgh Penguins backup to DeSmith Monday, although he could not sit on the bench because he was still technically on the taxi squad. Lagace was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League to the taxi squad Tuesday.

Winger Brandon Tanev, out the past six games, returned to practice and is not wearing a no-contact jersey. He had been skating separately from the club. Center Teddy Blueger, who has been out the past eight games but also had been skating separately from the team, also is on the ice, although he is wearing what appears to be a non-contact jersey.

Those still out include defenseman Mark Friedman, who has missed the past 14 games but who has been skating with the practice squad; center Evgeni Malkin, who has been on the shelf the past seven games but as of the weekend had not skated; and winger Kasperi Kapanen, out the past three games and also not back to skating as of the weekend.

Despite all the injury trouble, the Penguins just completed a homestand 4-0-1 and are 11-2-1 in their past 14 games to move into a second-place tie with the Islanders in the East.