The Penguins rested up with a day off yesterday after wrapping up their seven-game western road swing with a win over Utah on Wednesday. They’ll play four more games before taking a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, an international tournament between the U.S., Canada, Finland, and Sweden.
Yesterday, Pens’ captain Sidney Crosby was named the captain of Team Canada for the tournament and defenseman Erik Karlsson was named an alternate captain of Team Sweden. Games will be played in Boston and Montreal starting February 12th.
The Penguins will host Nashville tomorrow night and then play three straight games against Metro Division rivals, hosting New Jersey on Tuesday and then visiting the Rangers in new York next Friday and the Flyers in Philadelphia the following night.
An upbeat coach Mike Sullivan said after Wednesday’s game that the Penguins are in position to take a run at the playoffs.
NHL
Pittsburgh native Brandon Saad asked for and was given his release by the St. Louis Blues, allowing him to pursue free agency. In doing so, he waved goodbye to a guaranteed $4 million owed him for next season. Saad has been a frequent healthy scratch for the Blues this season and cleared waivers and was assigned to Springfield of the AHL on Wednesday.
