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The are on the verge Brandon Knight Jersey of clinching a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They can do so with a win over the Friday night on home ice, but theyre going to have to do it with five defensemen. has been ruled out for Friday nights game and the Penguins cant call anyone up to replace him due to cap constraints. The club is also without top-four defensemen and , who remain out with what is believed to be concu sions. Both may be healthy enough to return for the playoffs, but no definitive timeline has been set.Head coach Mike Johnston said that Ehrhoff, who is day-to-day, is doubtful to play Saturday in the season finale against the , but hasnt yet been ruled out. Pouliot was injured late in the second period Tuesday, but his ailment has not been disclosed as is often the case this time of year. Pittsburgh has had to play with five defensemen before and even slotted forward Daniel Winnik on defense for a game.This is a tough spot for the Penguins to be in, not only because of the difficulty of clinching with only five healthy defensemen. Its probably going to have some residual effects if they do make the postseason with how much extra ice time guys like have had to log.Martin, who has averaged 22:40 of ice time per game this season, has played 24 minutes or more on five occasions in the last three weeks including 29:33 against the Tuesday. Thats a lot of extra miles on a 34-year-old defenseman that could play even more in the last two games of the season if Pittsburgh is in a fight to clinch. The Penguins have had awful injury luck this postseason, but with inflexibility thanks to their cap number after the trade deadline, theyre in a me s they cant really fix. This is a tough way for the club to end the season, regardle s of if they make the playoffs or not. Jerami Grant Jersey |
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