The Pittsburgh Penguins come out of the trade deadline with some changes to their lines.

PITTSBURGH – For the first time following the NHL trade deadline, the Pittsburgh Penguins are set for game action. The Penguins had a mostly quiet deadline, but a couple of moves were enough to bring about changes to the lineup.

Forward Jake Guentzel and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel have departed with Michael Bunting joining the fold. The Penguins will take on the Boston Bruins with a few changes to their lineup as their pursuit for the postseason continues.

Forward Lines

Michael Bunting – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell

Bunting will make his Penguins’ debut on the top line with Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell. It was the expected spot with Guentzel leaving and Bryan Rust still out with an upper-body injury. In his first practice with the Penguins, Bunting was also skating on the top power play unit.

Reilly Smith – Evgeni Malkin – Valtteri Puustinen

Reilly Smith survived the trade deadline and will spend at least a full season in a Penguins’ uniform. It hasn’t been an easy year for Smith, but he’ll continue to get chances in the Penguins’ six with Evgeni Malkin as his center.

Jesse Puljujarvi – Lars Eller – Emil Bemstrom

For a few games leading up to the deadline, Lars Eller was pushed to play on the first line. With Bunting making his way to Pittsburgh, and Drew O’Connor out with a concussion, Eller goes back to his normal spot as third line center.

Jonathan Gruden – Noel Acciari – Jeff Carter

The Penguins made some paper transactions with Valtteri Puustinen and Jonathan Gruden being re-assigned to the American Hockey League for a day. That was just to clear them for a possible postseason run with the AHL squad. Puustinen and Gruden are both still wit the big club and ready to continue their extended stay in the NHL.

Defensive Pairings

P.O. Joseph – Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson – Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves – John Ludvig

A change has finally come to the Penguins defensive pairs, albiet not a huge one. Ruhwedel was traded to the New York Rangers, opening the door for John Ludvig to return to the lineup. Ludvig has been a healthy scratch since early February and is set to again be a steady face on the blue line.

Starting goalie

Alex Nedeljkovic

The Penguins are kicking off a set of back-to-back games and Alex Nedeljkovic is getting the start in Boston. He was the winning goalie the last time the Penguins were in Boston where they walked away winners in overtime.

It’s expected Tristan Jarry will be the starter tomorrow against the Edmonton Oilers back in Pittsburgh.

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