Liveblog: Penguins vs Senators Gameday – Update 3

Pittsburgh Penguins at Ottawa Senators
Scotiabank Place, Ottawa Ontario. 6:30pm CST (FSN)
Penguins 2nd in Atlantic Division/ 4th Eastern Conference
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Update 3 – Eaton a Game Time Decision, Lee Called Up In Case
Head Coach Dan Bylsma spoke with the media (11:43am CST) after today’s morning skate and stated that Mark Eaton will be a game-time decision.  He left yesterday’s practice early, was absent today, and Chris Lee has been called up in the event Eaton is unable to go tonight.  HCDB said Eaton will take the warm-up and a decision will be made from there.  There was no detail as to the nature of the problem with Eaton (Rob Rossi says back spasms via Twitter) or anything further on Brooks Orpik’s status.

Update 2 – Talbot and Gonchar are IN
The CBC confirmed (what we all kind of knew already) at 11:10am CST that Max Talbot will be in the lineup for the Penguins.  (TSN also confirming)

Jonathan Bombuile is reporting via twitter (11:20am CST) that Defenseman Chris Lee has been called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.  Lee has 1 G and 6 A in 15 games played with WBS this year.  Last season he was a blue-liner for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (6G 24A 36PIMs in 66GP).  This move likely indicates that the Pens are going to be shorter on defense than they expected to be when the day started as Lee was not present for the morning practice.  I’d expect one of Gonchar/Eaton/Orpik to be a scratch tonight given the Lee call-up.

The Penguins announced at 11:28am CST that both Maxime Talbot and Sergei Gonchar would be in the lineup for the Penguins tonight.  That means Lee may be a fill in for Eaton if he is a game time decision.  Look for one more major update after Bylsma speaks with the media.

Update 1 – Morning Skate Notes
Mark Eaton, who left yesterday’s practice early, did not participate in the Penguins’ morning skate at Scotiabank Place this morning.  Eaton did make the trip from Pittsburgh and Dan Bylsma is expected to speak to this in his traditional post-practice interview.

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The Penguins take to the road in the first of three games away from Mellon Arena to face the Ottawa Senators.  Ottawa is 3-3 in November and 10th overall in the Eastern Conference, are 23rd in the league on the PP and have the 11th best Penalty Kill.  The Senators generally are living and dying off of the play of their #1 netminder, Pascal LeClaire who has a .889 GAA in his last five games.

The majority of the talk for the Pens today will surround who is coming back into the lineup and dealing with the loss of defenseman Jay McKee to icky finger.  We have (now multiple) confirmation(s) that Max Talbot will rejoin the team today (despite the official website listing him as probable) and he practiced on the 3rd line with Craig Adams and Matt Cooke yesterday.  Unknown is which of two defenseman Sergei Gonchar or Brooks Orpik may/will play tonight.  There have been no call-ups from the AHL to cover a missing forward or defenseman so the assumption is that one of them is in, likely Sarge.

Look for more out of me as the day progresses in this live article (those of you coming over from SLBD know this already), the morning skate will be telling as to what the defensive pairings look like.

Also I’d like to say thanks to BD and all of the guys at HockeyIndependent.com for having me aboard.  Additionally huge stick-tap to Greg Wyshnyski for directing me to this opportunity.