Pens Points: Who Takes The Lead?

Here are your Pens Points for this Thursday morning...

In a positive development for Evgeni Malkin’s injury status, the 34-year-old will travel with the team to Long Island for Games 3 and 4. Goaltender Casey DeSmith will not travel, however. [Trib Live]

It’s been a theme all season long, but the Zach Aston-Reese—Teddy Blueger—Brandon Tanev line has been more than a traditional “fourth line.” [Trib Live]

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ are a combined 0-5 on the power-play so far in this series. That stat by itself is cause for some concern, but when it comes to creating chances with the man advantage, the New York Islanders are doing more than the Penguins there, too. [Trib Live]

Former Penguins winger Jussi Jokinen has announced his retirement from professional hockey. [Trib Live]

Kris Letang is 34 years old. And for the majority of his career, he has been lauded for his ability to play massive amounts of minutes throughout the season. While he may be slowing down a bit due to Father Time, take a look at how Letang still maintains his elite fitness levels to play big minutes in big games. [Post-Gazette]

One area of the game that has favored the Penguins so far? Their aggressive forecheck. [Post-Gazette]

News and notes from around the NHL...

The St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights had a handful of players that were given new COVID-19 tests after ‘discrepancies’ were found in overnight test results. In a follow-up, the NHL later cleared the Blues and Golden Knights to proceed with their respective games. [NBC Sports]

Longtime NHLer Derek Roy also announced his retirement on Wednesday. [NHL]

Former U.S. women’s national hockey team captain Meghan Duggan has been tabbed as the New Jersey Devils’ manager of player development. [ESPN]