Z-Fence Down! Michalek Out 4-6 Weeks

Defenseman Zbynek Michelek was injured in the third period of the Penguins game on Saturday, October 22 against the New Jersey Devils. According to Headcoach Dan Byslma following today’s practice, Z will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken finger.

All talk has been centered around the question of who will be the 6^th D man on any given night with an active roster housing 7 (Nine including Robert Bortuzzo who is out with an injury and Brian Strait who cannot be reassigned to Wilkes-Barre until he is removed from injured reserve.) All eyes were on Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy on who would sit once Brooks Orpik returned to the blue line.

Lovejoy served as a healthy scratch on Saturday since Orpik was on the ice and Kris Letang had returned from his 2 game Shanaban suspension for boarding last week against Winnipeg. Obviously, Engo and Lovejoy would be rotated in and out, but I would have been more in favor of Lovejoy sitting the majority of the time with Engo playing so well.

The lines at practice today were:

Martin-Letang
Orpik-Engelland
Niskanen-Lovejoy

I am not a particular fan of the Niskanen-Lovejoy pairing. They’ve been on line together before and I was not impressed. I also don’t like splitting up Letang and Orpik, but seeing as how Engelland is exploring his offensive prowess this season, placing him with a hardlined D like Orpik won’t be a bad thing. And seriously, that line is just scary to place together physically. Bash brothers without the shenanigans and air-guitar. We will see tomorrow on the Island if these lines stick or if Byslma swaps things up. I’m sure the pairings will mix during the game though as needed.

Lovejoy has a great opportunity on his hands to show that he is worth keeping in the line-up for the long run of the season. So far, he has been pretty invisible. In my last blog about Benny, I brought up the case of his stats, which aren’t necessarily bad for a 6^th man on the D, but compared to the other guys and his PIM, he is the best case scenario for a healthy scratch.

The hockey gods have once again spit in the face of the Pens.

Pens play tomorrow against the Islanders. Vomit.

Sit Geno tomorrow. Please if there is one thing you do for the benefit of the team, Byslma, do not play Geno. Like I said, the Islanders aren’t even worth hating, but they certainly aren’t worth trusting!

Let’s Go Pens!

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Twitter: @Letangueray