Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan Provides Updates On Sidelined Players

The Pittsburgh Penguins will likely be without star defenseman Kris Letang for the third straight game.

Letang has been sidelined with an illness for the last two games and remained absent from Penguins practice on Monday.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan provided an update on Letang and forwards Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass and Blake Lizotte.

“Tanger skated this morning. He’s feeling a bit better. He’s day-to-day,” Sullivan told reporters, per team-provided video. “He skated this morning on the injured ice, as did Hasey and Cody Glass. Those guys had a productive day on the ice today. (Lizotte) is still off ice, but he’s progressing.”

Hayes landed on injured reserve with an undisclosed upper-body injury last week, after suffering an injury in the Penguins’ shootout loss to the New York Islanders on Nov. 5. Glass is out with a concussion he sustained during Pittsburg’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 7. Lizotte suffered his second concussion of the year on Nov. 13. The first was concussion came during the Penguins matchup with the Ottawa Senators in the preseason’s Hockeyville game on Sept. 29.

Sullivan also told reporters that assistant coach Mike Vellucci underwent a scheduled minor medical procedure and will be away from the team for about a week. Vellucci has been an assistant with the Penguins since 2020 and notably oversees the team’s penalty kill.

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

The Penguins will look to build on their shootout win over the San Jose Sharks when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night to continue their five-game homestand.

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