At the Rink: Penguins at Ducks

ANAHEIM -- As much as Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ben Lovejoy wants to think about Friday as just another game, his emotions overwhelm him. It's been five days since Lovejoy was traded from the Anaheim Ducks to Pittsburgh, and it seems too soon when the teams play at Honda Center.

"They're not even memories yet, because it just happened," Lovejoy said. "I can't even say it. Tonight isn't just another game for me. But I hope that once the game starts happening, it will be just like a normal game."

Lovejoy quickly followed that up with, "No, that's not true."

Lovejoy began his NHL career with Pittsburgh in 2008 but never fully established himself and was traded to Anaheim in 2013 for a fifth round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. Pittsburgh re-acquired him Monday for defenseman Simon Despres.

Lovejoy is grateful to go back to Pittsburgh, the one landing spot he would have wished for. He starts anew with jersey No. 12 after he spoke with Penguins assistant general Bill Guerin, a former teammate of Lovejoy's who gave him the option of getting his former No. 6 back.

"It's somebody else's number now," Lovejoy said. "I didn't feel comfortable taking it. For me, it was Billy Guerin. I'm still the 24-year-old rookie who has sort of puppy-dog eyes whenever Billy G. talks. He was a super vet in the room, the leader. I sort of said, 'OK, Billy, I'll do whatever you want.' I wore No. 12 in college. I'm very comfortable in it. It's Pittsburgh Penguins 2.0 for me."

Lovejoy still has a deep connection to Orange County given that his daughter, Lila, was born here last year.

"My joke is that she started to go a little soft with all the sunshine," he said. "We've got to get her back to the East Coast and introduce her back to real life. A lot of you people here are very spoiled. This is an amazing place … this will forever be a very special place."

Lovejoy was popular in Anaheim's dressing room and it will be strange for his former teammates to see him on the other side.

"It's going to be a little bit sad," Ducks right wing Emerson Etem said. "[He] was great to me personally, being an older guy taking me under his wing. Yeah, it's going to be sad, but at the same time, we're all doing our jobs out here and we've got to do what we can to win."

Despres, who stands 6-foot-4, 214 pounds, is a plus-4 with six hits in two games with Anaheim playing with defenseman Cam Fowler.

Despres was asked if his new teammates and coaches have asked him about defending Pittsburgh.

"I know pretty much all their tendencies," Despres said. "I've been in Pittsburgh for six years. I've been practicing with them for a long time. I know their moves. I don't need a refreshment about it."

Penguins right wing Beau Bennett came off late and might not play if right wing Craig Adams goes back in the lineup. But Friday and Saturday would represent the first time that Bennett, born in nearby Gardena, will play in Southern California since he got to the NHL.

"It's going to be pretty special," Bennett said. "I wasn't a Ducks fan growing up, but I played at [Honda Center] multiple times growing up. That was an awesome thing. It's going to be fun tonight, for sure."

Bennett and Etem, from Long Beach, are roommates in the summer. They played together growing up.

"Our line in peewee triple-A was actually me, Emerson Etem and Matt Nieto [of the San Jose Sharks]," he said. "It's always fun seeing those guys, and I haven't played against them in a very long time."

Here are the projected lineups:

PENGUINS

David Perron – Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist

Chris Kunitz – Evgeni Malkin - Blake Comeau

Steve Downie –Brandon Sutter – Daniel Winnik

Nick Spaling – Maxim Lapierre – Beau Bennett

Paul Martin – Kris Letang

Rob Scuderi – Ian Cole

Derrick Pouliot – Ben Lovejoy

Thomas Greiss

Marc-Andre Fleury

Scratched: Craig Adams

Injured: Pascal Dupuis (blood clot), Olli Maatta (upper body), Christian Ehrhoff (concussion symptoms)

DUCKS

Kyle Palmieri – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry

Tomas Fleischmann – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg

Patrick Maroon – Nate Thompson – Andrew Cogliano

Jiri Sekac – Rickard Rakell – Emerson Etem

Cam Fowler – Simon Despres

Hampus Lindholm – Francois Beauchemin

Clayton Stoner – Josh Manson

Frederik Andersen

John Gibson

Scratched: Chris Wagner

Injured: James Wisniewski (foot), Korbinian Holzer (upper body), Matt Beleskey (shoulder), Sami Vatanen (lower body), Tim Jackman (lower body)

Status report: Greiss was first off the ice. He is 0-3-2 against Anaheim. Pittsburgh plays at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. … Andersen was first off the ice. It will be his second start since he came back from a neck injury. Gibson has won six of his past seven games, but Boudreau said he will likely alternate the two the rest of the month because of Anaheim's busy schedule. Vatanen, Beleskey and Holzer are skating and are on track to return later this month.

Who's hot: Malkin is on a six-game point streak, with six goals in that span. … Beauchemin has five goals and seven points in his past 11 games. Rakell has five points in his past nine games. Sekac has three assists in his past four games.