After going 1-1 in the first two preseason games, the last group of veterans to see game action (Vermette, Stralman, Moreau, Huselius, Klesla) will hit the ice along with several players from the Atlanta and Washington squads.
No word yet from the Pens on who will be skating in Nationwide, but the Dispatch is reporting that Evgeni Malkin will dress for the game. Edit: Strike that. Per Portzline’s twitter feed, Malkin is off the list.
Forwards: Mike Blunden, Chris Clark, Kristian Huselius, Chad Kolarik, Tomas Kubalik, Ethan Moreau, Andrew Murray, Tom Sestito, R. J. Umberger, Antoine Vermette, & Kyle Wilson.
Defense: Grant Clitsome, Mike Commodore, Cody Goloubef, Rostislav Klesla, Marc Methot, Dalton Prout, Jonathan Sigalet, & Anton Stralman.
Goal: Mathieu Garon, David LeNeveu.
No lines have been announced yet, but I would assume that we’ll see Huselius and Vermette together, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see Clark, Moreau, and Pahlsson skating as a group. Garon has also been announced as the starter. I’m curious to see who Commodore and Klesla get paired with, too.
Edit to the Edit: It figures that if I had waited 5 minutes, I’d have been able to get the Pens roster, too.
Pittsburgh will be sending the following:
Forwards: Craig Adams, Arron Asham, Mike Comrie, Chris Conner, Matt Cooke, Eric Godard, Nick Johnson, Dustin Jeffrey, Chris Kunitz, Mark Letestu, Mike Rupp, and Max Talbot.
Defense: Robert Bortuzzo, Simon Despres, Deryk Engelland, Alex Goligoski, Ben Lovejoy, Paul Martin, and Steve Wagner (No Relation).
Goalies will be Brent Johnson and John Curry.
Lines for Columbus have been posted by the Dispatch:
F1: Kristian Huselius – Antoine Vermette – Tomas Kubalik
F2: R.J. Umberger – Kyle Wilson – Chad Kolarik
F3: Ethan Moreau – Sammy Pahlsson – Mike Blunden
F4: Tom Sestito – Andrew Murray – Chris Clark
D1: Rostislav Klesla – Anton Stralman
D2: Grant Clitsome – Mike Commodore
D3: Marc Methot – Cody Goloubef
G1: Mathieu Garon
G2: David LeNeveu
Anyone else a little nervous about pairing Stralman and Rusty together? I like the other two sets of D, though. Looks like Sigalet and Prout will be there for bench depth – I wonder how much ice team each will actually see.