PITTSBURGH -- As Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma is wont to do, he did not expound on his plans for the line combinations for Tuesday's game against the Montreal Canadiens, but the just-acquired Brenden Morrow was on the left wing on a line with Dustin Jeffrey and James Neal for the morning skate -- real estate rookie Beau Bennett held in recent weeks.
Bylsma finally acknowledged a nagging injury to Matt Cooke, who has regularly sat out morning skates in recent weeks but has not missed any games. Assuming he is healthy, the addition of Morrow means one player will be left out.
Bennett was occupying the spot Cooke usually holds on the third line. With Jeffrey and Joe Vitale needed as true centers, Tanner Glass playing plenty of minutes on the penalty kill, and Tyler Kennedy's strong play of late, the best guess is that rookie Bennett will be the odd man out.
Here are the projected lines and defensemen pairings for Tuesday night's game between the Penguins and Canadiens at Consol Energy Center:
CANADIENS
Michael Ryder - Tomas Plekanec - Brian Gionta
Max Pacioretty - David Desharnais - Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk - Lars Eller - Colby Armstrong
Travis Moen - Jeff Halpern - Gabriel Dumont
Jarred Tinordi - Francis Bouillon
Scratched: Mike Blunden, Tomas Kaberle
Injured: Ryan White (lower body)
Coach Michel Therrien said Halpern will make his Canadiens debut skating with Moen and Dumont. Blunden played 5:57 after being recalled from Hamilton of the American Hockey League prior to Montreal's most recent game Saturday.
PENGUINS
Chris Kunitz – Sidney Crosby – Pascal Dupuis
Brenden Morrow – Dustin Jeffrey – James Neal
Matt Cooke - Brandon Sutter – Tyler Kennedy
Tanner Glass – Joe Vitale – Craig Adams
Simon Despres – Deryk Engelland
Injured: Evgeni Malkin (shoulder), Kris Letang (lower body)
Scratched: Beau Bennett, Robert Bortuzzo, Douglas Murray