All four of the Penguins' injured players skated Sunday morning prior to the 5 p.m. game against the Hurricanes, Mike Sullivan confirmed.
Evgeni Malkin, who has missed six games with an apparent rib injury, and Chad Ruhwedel, who has missed 15 games with an upper-body injury, have also been skating on their own prior to today. Kris Letang resumed skating after missing his second consecutive game with an upper-body injury. Zach Aston-Reese, who has missed nine games with a hip injury, resumed skating.
Sullivan spoke on what the lineup -- specifically the second line -- could look like when the team is healthy.
"We have an idea of where we'd like to start when we get a healthy complement of players," said Sullivan. "My preference is to put line combinations together that have success. Sometimes that's with Geno and Phil (Kessel) together, and sometimes it's not. ... It's about putting combinations together that give us a chance to win. Part of that is how guys are playing, how the lines are gelling. I do think that balance is important. When you play good teams, good teams are deep. Balance is important at this time of year. We can create that balance different ways. It's really not about my preference on who is together or who isn't, it's more about trying to create the balance and finding combinations that work together."
• Matt Murray, as expected, will start in net vs. the Hurricanes.
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