When Evgeni Malkin missed practice on Thursday, Mike Sullivan called it a "maintenance day." It appears it may be a little more than that, though.
Malkin is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, Sullivan announced on Friday before the Penguins' game against the Senators. He has been ruled out for Friday's game and Saturday's game in Toronto.
"I'm disappointed for (Malkin), because he had a great game (against the Lightning)," Sullivan said. "We think that was a game that he can really build on. ... We're hopeful this is a short-term thing and he'll be right back in our lineup. But the fact that he had a strong as a game as he did the other night is encouraging, and we're looking forward to getting him back in our lineup."
Malkin finished Wednesday's game, so it's not clear when he was injured.
• Casey DeSmith gets the start in net tonight against the Senators, meaning Matt Murray will likely get the start in Toronto.
• Sullivan, on where things went wrong with Derick Brassard: "He was asked to play a role that's different than he's played in his career. Him and I have had a lot of conversations over the last year or so on trying to help him establish his game in the role that we tried to cast him in. He's a very good player, make no mistake. Brass is a very good player. I think our expectations were so high of him because we value how good of a player he is. It's not like he didn't produce or help us win."
Sullivan added that he still has so much respect for Brassard as a person and a player, and that it's unfortunate that it didn't work out for Brassard in Pittsburgh.
• Riley Sheahan's departure opens up a spot for a forward on the penalty kill. Teddy Blueger time? Oh, yeah.
"We really like Teddy's game," Sullivan said. "We know he can help us in that regard. He's certainly going to get some penalty kill time tonight."
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