Game 54 Morning skate buzz: Fleury in; Talbot, Guerin, Goligoski out, Conner recalled

Pittsburgh Penguins (32-20-1) @ New York Rangers (24-21-7)

Pittsburgh concludes their two game road trip tonight against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers have been shutout in back-to-back games and are in the midst of a two game losing streak.

Former Penguin Erik Christensen will not face his former team and will be a healthy scratch for the Rangers tonight. Replacing Christensen in the lineup will be Donald Brashear who skated on the 4th line in place of Christensen during the Rangers morning skate.

Brashear will get back into the lineup with Eric Godard playing for Pittsburgh.

The Rangers other healthy scratch up front will be Ales Kotalik. Kotalik who was given a 3 year contract worth $9 million has been in and out of the lineup over the past 4 weeks. Another blunder by Rangers GM Glen Sather.

Meanwhile, big news for Pittsburgh is that Bill Guerin and Alex Goligoski will not play today. Goligoski has an upper body injury he suffered in Sunday’s game.

Guerin will be replaced in the lineup by Chris Conner who was just recalled. Conner did not participate in the morning skate and is en route to New York.

There is no word on the extent of Guerin’s injury.

The Penguins have opted not to recall Ben Lovejoy and after all, Martin Skoula will get back into the lineup for the first time in 9 games.

Goaltender Marc Andre Fleury (25-14-1) will make his first start in over 10 days after missing four straight starts with a fractured finger.

Fleury was a full participant again this morning and will match up against Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (22-17-6) who was pulled in Saturday’s 6-0 loss.

After it appeared Fleury would start on Sunday, the coaching staff opted for him to get an extra day rest due to the Penguins not having a morning skate on Sunday.

*Max Talbot’s frustrating season continues and Talbot will miss his third straight game with a lower body injury. Talbot traveled with the team and practiced today but remains limited on the ice.

Talbot is hopeful to play Thursday night night against Ottawa.

This paves the way for Nick Johnson to get another opportunity alongside Evgeni Malkin.

Tonight’s Lineup

Dupuis – Crosby – Kennedy

Fedotenko – Malkin – Johnson

Cooke – Staal – Conner

Rupp – Adams – Godard

Defensemen

Orpik – Gonchar

Mckee – Skoula

Eaton – Letang

Marc Andre Fleury will start in goal

Scratches: Guerin, Talbot, Goligoski,