Penguins' Tommy Novak sidelined day-to-day; Ryan Shea out week-to-week
Following only two games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, forward Tommy Novak has hit a bump in the road with his new club.
When Novak was absent from Tuesday’s morning skate, coach Mike Sullivan revealed the 27-year-old, acquired in a trade from the Nashville Predators on March 5, is sidelined day-to-day with a lower-body ailment.
Novak left the Penguins’ most recent contest Sunday vs. the Minnesota Wild due to injury and was unable to return.
With the Penguins, Novak was averaging 13 minutes, 1 second of ice time over two games with zero points.
Initially deployed as third-line center in his Penguins debut March 7 at Vegas, Novak was moved to second-line left wing with Evgeni Malkin on Sunday in Minnesota before being injured.
Novak is signed through 2026-27 at $3.5 million annually.
Prior to being traded to Pittsburgh, Novak played in 52 games with Nashville this season, scoring 13 goals with nine assists.
In addition to Novak, Sullivan revealed defenseman Ryan Shea is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
The 28-year-old Shea had been enjoying a more prominent role with the Penguins of late, skating next to Kris Letang to form the club’s top defensive pairing while averaging 20-plus minutes of ice time per night for the first time in his career.
He also recently was rewarded with a one-year, $900,000 contract through 2025-26 on Friday.
This year, the left-handed Shea has appeared in 30 games for the Penguins, one shy of tying his career-high.
Shea, who made his NHL debut last year with Pittsburgh, has already set several other career-bests this year, including goals (two), assists (three) and time on ice (16:55).
Per Sullivan, defenseman P.O Joseph’s status remains the same.
Joseph, designated to injured reserve March 3 with an unspecified ailment, is out week-to-week.
Notes: Tristan Jarry is scheduled to start in net for the Penguins on Tuesday night at home vs. the Golden Knights. Jarry, who is 9-8-4 with a 3.20 goals-against average and .890 save percentage at the NHL level this season, makes his second straight start for the Penguins, following a 30-save win Sunday at Minnesota. … The Penguins recalled forward Matt Nieto and defenseman Sebastian Aho from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League Tuedsay under emergency roster conditions. … Vegas’ Ilya Samsonov is expected to start in net vs. the Penguins. On the year, he is 25-15-8 with a 2.80 GAA and .891 save percentage. He recently posted a 22-save shutout of the Penguins on March 7.
• Lines, defensive pairings and power-play groups utilized by the Penguins on Tuesday were as follows:
67 - Rickard Rakell - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust
19 Connor Dewar - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 53 Phil Tomasino
43 Danton Heinen - 13 Kevin Hayes - 52 Emil Bemstrom
14 Boko Imama - 46 Blake Lizotte - 55 Noel Acciari
23 Vladislav Kolyachonok - 58 Kris Letang
24 Matt Grzelcyk - 65 Erik Karlsson
27 Ryan Graves - 20 Conor Timmins
Matt Nieto and Aho skated as a reserve fourth defensive pair.
First power-play: Crosby, Rakell, Karlsson, Rust, Hayes
Second power-play: Malkin, Grzelcyk, Letang, Heinen, Tomasino
Justin Guerriero is a TribLive reporter covering the Penguins, Pirates and college sports. A Pittsburgh native, he is a Central Catholic and University of Colorado graduate. He joined the Trib in 2022 after covering the Colorado Buffaloes for Rivals and freelancing for the Denver Post. He can be reached at jguerriero@triblive.com.
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