Goligoski likely out 2-3 weeks

Zach Boslett | Pittsburgh Penguins

Nov 16, 12:07 PM | Hype this story!

Leading defensive scorer Alex Goligoski will likely be sidelined 2-3 weeks according to Coach Dan Bylsma.

Goligoski was seen gingerly skating to the bench at the very end of the third period in Saturday’s win against Boston. He had not practiced and is undergoing an MRI to reveal the extent of the injury.

By the way he was skating, it appeared to be a groin pull, a tough injury to recover from due to the inability of the player to skate while healing.

With Goligoski joining Gonchar, Letang, and Orpik on the shelf, defensemen Mark Eaton and Jay McKee, two of the most injury prone players on the Penguins, remain the only defensemen in the lineup for the banner raising ceremony.

As of now, the Penguins defensive lineup looks something like this:
Skoula-Lovejoy
Eaton-Engelland
Guenin-McKee

Guenin and Engelland played some together in the AHL as did Engelland and Lovejoy. Bylsma may choose to have an experienced defensemen on each pairing but no matter how they line it up, the outcome is not good.

As posted in an earlier article, Lovejoy and Eaton are the only defensemen with any PP experience. Guenin had been on the left point for WB/S’s power play after Lovejoy was called up but he does not have to offensive skills to play there at the NHL level.

If the Penguins can survive this stretch of ridiculous injuries, they can survive anything else the NHL regular season can throw at them.

Comments

  1. DaBich

    Nov 16, 12:12 PM

    Zach, it’s tough times now, but the guys will be returning, one by one. This team will be better for it. I’d much rather have this now than down the stretch later on.
    But it still sucks!

  2. Chris

    Nov 16, 12:47 PM

    Just be thankful almost all of these are short-term injuries.

    Gonch and Talbot should hopefully be back soon and just about everyone else was listed as “out two weeks”.

    As long as they really are only gone two weeks the Pens should be fine.

    At least it’s giving a good chance to give some WBS guys good looks. It’s too bad they insist on using Bourque and won’t give a guy like Jeffrey or Caputi a shot.

  3. DaBich

    Nov 16, 03:22 PM

    Chris, that last line is a mouthful. I heartily agree!

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