Penguins at Hurricanes preview

PENGUINS (19-16-3) at HURRICANES (17-12-7)
7:30 p.m. ET; ATTSN-PT, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Rust and Ruhwedel were injured in the third period of a 5-4 shootout win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday. Murray played against Columbus, but coach Mike Sullivan said Thursday he wouldn't dress against Carolina. Letang missed the game against the Blue Jackets; Schultz hasn't played since Dec. 5. The Penguins recalled goaltender
Casey DeSmith
, forward
Garrett Wilson
and defensemen
Andrey Pedan
and
Frank Corrado
from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
Goaltender
Tristan Jarry
will start for the Penguins, who are beginning a three-game road trip.
Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward will make his fourth straight start for the Hurricanes, who have won three straight games and are 6-0-1 in their past seven. Ward needs one win to tie Billy Smith for 27th on the NHL all-time list (305).
Forward Marcus Kruger won't play after leaving practice early Thursday. The Hurricanes plan to call up
Lucas Wallmark
from Charlotte of the American Hockey League.

Players to watch

Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past 12 games.
Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho has three goals and an assist in his past four games.

They said it

"It's an opportunity for players to step up and make an impression and play a more significant role and help our team win. These (injured) guys are difficult to replace, but our expectation and belief is we still have enough to win games." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"It's not hard to scout (Crosby and Malkin) and Guentzel flying down the wing. You know how they're going to play. They have elite guys, and you've got to be tight on them and you've got to make it hard." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Patric Hornqvist
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Phil Kessel
Dominik Simon
-- Riley Sheahan -- Conor Sheary
Tom Kuhnhackl -- Carter Rowney -- Ryan Reaves
Brian Dumoulin -- Matt Hunwick
Ian Cole -- Jamie Oleksiak
Olli Maatta -- Frank Corrado
Tristan Jarry
Casey DeSmith
Scratched:Garret Wilson, Andrey Pedan
Injured:Matt Murray (upper body), Kris Letang (lower body), Justin Schultz (lower body), Bryan Rust (upper body), Chad Ruhwedel (upper body)

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Jordan Staal -- Teuvo Teravainen
Jeff Skinner -- Victor Rask -- Elias Lindholm
Brock McGinn -- Derek Ryan -- Justin Williams
Joakim Nordstrom -- Lucas Wallmark --
Phillip Di Giuseppe
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Klas Dahlbeck -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
Scott Darling
Scratched:Josh Jooris, Haydn Fleury
Injured:Lee Stempniak (lower body), Marcus Kruger (undisclosed)

Status report

Murray did individual on-ice work after the morning skate. He and Letang are day-to-day. ... Peters said Darling will start Saturday at the St. Louis Blues. Stempniak, who has not played this season, took part in the morning skate wearing a yellow no-contact jersey. He won't play this weekend.

Stat pack

Kessel has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in his past 16 games … Skinner has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in his past eight games.