A slew of reinforcements from the AHL arrive
Mike Sullivan has mentioned recently the Penguins have some players banged up. That wasn’t for show, three forwards were recalled this morning from the AHL under emergency conditions.
The Penguins have recalled forwards Emil Bemstrom, Vasily Ponomarev and Valtteri Puustinen from the @WBSPenguins (AHL) on an emergency basis. pic.twitter.com/3xQNaAwxwV
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 10, 2025
According to Wes Crosby, all of Rutger McGroarty, Blake Lizotte, Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto were not on the ice this morning for practice. Lizotte missed the previous game but the other three played. McGroarty left injured after blocking a shot with his foot. GM Kyle Dubas said the team was awaiting scans of the foot to reveal how much damage was done. Unfortunately the news wasn’t good, McGroarty will join the others as being out for the season. Tommy Novak also got the plug pulled.
The following @penguins players are out for the remainder of the season per Head Coach Mike Sullivan:
•Noel Acciari
•Blake Lizotte
•Rutger McGroarty
•Matt Nieto
•Tommy Novak— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) April 10, 2025
As a result, here were the lines on the ice in PA today before the Pens set off to New Jersey for their final road game of the 2024-25 season against the Devils tomorrow night.
#Pens lines:
Koivunen–Crosby–Rust
Heinen–Malkin–Rakell
Dewar–Hayes–Puustinen
Koppanen–Ponomarev–BemstromD:
Grzelcyk–Letang
Timmins–Karlsson
Graves–Shea— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) April 10, 2025
It’s tough luck for Acciari, who recently blocked his team-leading 100th shot and has managed to play in all 79 of the games this season so far. Acciari has found a way to answer the bell through a myriad of bumps and bruises throughout the season but he won’t quite make it to the finish line for appearing in every game. That leaves Pittsburgh with only two players looking to maintain perfect attendance this season, defensemen Matt Grzelcyk and Erik Karlsson.