At the Rink: Hurricanes at Penguins

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins will add forward Carl Hagelin to their lineup, but won't have defenseman Kris Letang when they face the Carolina Hurricanes at Consol Energy Center on Sunday (3 p.m.; FS-CR, ROOT).

Letang (undisclosed) was ruled out a day after missing practice because of an injury he seemed to sustain to his right arm when he was checked by Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ryan Callahan in the second period of Pittsburgh's 5-4 overtime loss Friday. After having X-rays between periods, Letang returned to finish the game.

Because of various injuries, Letang missed three different stints from Nov. 28-Dec. 30, returning on Dec. 9 and Dec. 26 just to miss the next game each time. Letang has 14 points in nine games since Dec. 26.

Pittsburgh is 1-7-1 playing without Letang. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said he will again be a game-time decision when they face the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

Defenseman David Warsofsky should enter the Penguins' lineup in Letang's place, but it's unknown how Pittsburgh will fill his role at the point on its power play. Sullivan said he might use a few people on the top power-play unit to help fill the void.

The Penguins acquired Hagelin from the Anaheim Ducks on Friday for forward David Perron and defenseman Adam Clendening. Hagelin had 12 points and four goals in 43 games with the Ducks and will most likely skate to the left of center Evgeni Malkin and right wing David Perron.

"I've played a lot of games in this building. A couple of playoff series," Hagelin said. "I kind of know what to expect and you kind feel like, even though you don't know the guys, you've played against them so many times, you kind of know their tendencies on the ice … It's a team that's pretty straight-forward. Use your legs and I feel the 'D' are trying to do as many quick-ups as possible and that's probably one of the reasons they wanted to trade for me, for me to bring speed and play the way I can."

Hagelin said the trade surprised him and he is looking forward to a fresh start in Pittsburgh.

"I wasn't feeling great at the beginning of the year and the team wasn't playing well either," Hagelin said. "I think that was obviously a part of it and I started feeling good after Christmas, so I'm feeling the way I want to feel right now."

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will start for the Penguins.

Carolina is two points from the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference and one point ahead of the Penguins.

"We don't even talk about the standings," coach Bill Peters told the Hurricanes website. "They're too dynamic, and it's too far out. We know we have to get points and go on extended runs. We have to play well in 10-game segments. We know all of that. We don't beat it up every day. You start watching the out-of-town scoreboard, and it will drive you crazy. It just changes. This is a huge game within the division, and we've got to get a point or two here tonight."

Here are the projected lineups:

HURRICANES

Kris Versteeg – Eric Staal – Elias Lindholm

Joakim Nordstrom – Jordan Staal – Andrej Nestrasil

Jeff Skinner – Victor Rask – Riley Nash

Brad Malone – Jay McClement – Nathan Gerbe

John-Michael Liles – Justin Faulk

Noah Hanifin – Ron Hainsey

Michal Jordan – Jaccob Slavin

Eddie Lack

Cam Ward

Injured: James Wisniewski (ACL), Brett Pesce (lower body)

Scratched: None

PENGUINS

Chris Kunitz – Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist

Carl Hagelin – Evgeni Malkin – Phil Kessel

Tom Kuhnhackl – Eric Fehr – Bryan Rust

Kevin Porter – Matt Cullen – Conor Sheary

Ian Cole – Trevor Daley

Brian Dumoulin – Ben Lovejoy

David Warsofsky

Marc-Andre Fleury

Jeff Zatkoff

Injured: Beau Bennett (upper body), Nick Bonino (hand), Kris Letang (undisclosed)

Scratched: Sergei Plotnikov

Status report: Kuhnhackl will face Carolina for the second time in his first four NHL games since being recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 7 … Lack will start for the Hurricanes and play in his 100th NHL game. … The Hurricanes activated Gerbe from injured reserve Friday, and reassigned forwards Brock McGinn and Phil Di Giuseppe to Charlotte of the American Hockey League.

Who's hot: Malkin has scored at least one point in three of his past four games. In his past eight games, he has scored 11 points and two goals … Before being held without a point against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, Skinner scored at least one point in three of his previous four games, including the game-winning goal in the Hurricanes' 3-2 overtime win against the Penguins on Jan. 12.