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Goaltender Matt Murray who was not available for Friday’s 2-1 loss due to an apparent injury, will be back in goal tonight vs the Detroit Red Wings.

Murray has had an up and down season with a 14-10-1 record to go with a 2.94 GAA and .904 save percentage. Murray entered the season with a .925 career save percentage.

As the Penguins close out December and head into the New Year, Pittsburgh has just three regulation wins in December, two victories over Buffalo and one against Arizona.

Pittsburgh needs Murray to find his game quickly and start to go on a run.

Murray is 3-3 with an .898 save percentage this month. Tristan Jarry by comparison has compiled a .928 save percentage in 8 appearances this month.

The Penguins coaching staff, though, is giving no consideration to Jarry start taking a few starts from Murray as evident by tonight with Pittsburgh going right back to Murray.

Could that change if Murray continues to struggle over the next couple games?

The answer still seems to be no despite Jarry getting results lately.

— A lot of eyes tonight will be whether Daniel Sprong can come in and provide a jolt to the lineup.

He will start the game on the third line and could see some power play time with the second unit.

Mike Sullivan talked today about letting Sprong play to his strengths which is what has to happen.

“We’re going to try to put him in situations where he can play to his strengths,” Sullivan said via the Penguins twitter feed. “We want him to keep his game simple and do what he does best. He obviously he has the ability to score goals. When he has the chance to shoot, we’re encouraging him to do that.”

When coaches deal with young skilled players like Sprong who are not good away from the puck, they often nitpick every detail of that player’s game compared to a 4th line plugger and for Sprong to make an immediate impact, Penguin coaches will be tested to have some patience and let Sprong go out and not be scared to make a mistake.

That is going to be the key on whether this is a successful call-up for Sprong. [/hide]

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