Penguins defenseman Kris Letang sidelined day-to-day with illness

After missing the Pittsburgh Penguins’ last two games because of illness, defenseman Kris Letang remained absent from practice as the club took the ice for practice Monday in Cranberry.

Following the session, coach Mike Sullivan revealed Letang skated individually in the morning, along with forwards Kevin Hayes (undisclosed ailment) and Cody Glass (concussion), both of whom are on injured reserve.

Letang is officially listed as day-to-day.

Forward Blake Lizotte suffered his second concussion of the year Nov. 13 and also is on injured reserve.

Per Sullivan, Lizotte is progressing but is not yet cleared for on-ice activities.

Sullivan also announced that assistant coach Mike Vellucci underwent a planned minor medical procedure and will be away from the team “for a week or so.”

Vellucci, 58, has served as an assistant in Pittsburgh since 2020 and notably oversees the club’s penalty kill.

“We’re going to divide and conquer as a group,” Sullivan said of Vellucci’s absence. “I’ve already talked to my staff about how we’re going to handle it.”

The Penguins deployed the following lines, defensive pairings and power-play units Monday:

72 Anthony Beauvillier - 87 Sidney Crosby - 67 Rickard Rakell

8 Michael Bunting - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 17 Bryan Rust

18 Jesse Puljujarvi - 10 Drew O’Connor - 22 Sam Poulin

83 Matt Nieto - 55 Noel Acciari - 11 Vasily Ponomarev

28 Marcus Pettersson - 65 Erik Karlsson

24 Matt Grzelcyk - 3 Jack St. Ivany

38 Owen Pickering - 5 Ryan Shea

Ryan Graves and Valtteri Puustinen skated as a reserve defensive pairing.

First power-play unit: Crosby, Malkin, Karlsson, Rakell, Rust

Second power-play unit: O’Connor, Beauvillier, Puljujarvi, Bunting, Grzelcyk