Penguins Game Day News 9/26: Schultz Injury, Lines, Pairings, Other Tidbits

PITTSBURGH — There were some news items and notes coming out of the Pittsburgh Penguins morning skate at PPG Paints Arena in advance of Wednesday’s home preseason game against Buffalo.

Coach Mike Sullivan said defenseman Justin Schultz is dealing with what he described as a “nagging” upper-body injury.

“We thought we would hold him out today,” Sullivan said. “It will be a day-to-day thing, but I don’t envision it being anything serious.”

Also to get you ready for the game, which will be streamed at Pittsburghpenguins.com  rather than on TV:

*The lines and pairings at the morning skate:

Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist

Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel

Simon-Brassard-Rust

Cullen-Sheahan-Sprong

Dumoulin-Letang

Maatta-Johnson

Oleksiak-Riikola

*No. 1 goaltender Matt Murray is scheduled to play the full game.

*With a lineup close to what will be seen in the regular season, Sullivan acknowledged that at this point the final two preseason games amount to dress rehearsals, with a couple of players still battling for spots.

“As I said to our players yesterday and reiterated to them this morning, we’ve got to make sure that we’re getting better with each day and each game,” Sullivan said. “We’re asking them to take ownership of their own individual games and their own individual preparation so that we can start to ramp it up.”

*The full Penguins lineup for the game: