The Pittsburgh Penguins lost a pair of key players due to injury as the Colorado Avalanche are pushing for a comeback.

PITTSBURGH – As the Pittsburgh Penguins are barely clinging to their lead over the Colorado Avalanche, they appear to have gone down a pair of key players. Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic is questionable to return while forward Noel Acciari has been ruled out.

The Penguins tweeted that Acciari will not return to the game against the Avalanche and further updates would be provided at a later time. The Penguins did not clarify what kind of injury Acciari may be dealing with, but he only played one shift in the second period.

In eight total shifts, Acciari skated for a total of 4:56 of ice time. He went a perfect 2/2 at the face off dot.

Early in the third period, an Avalanche skater crashed the Penguins’ net and collided hard with Nedeljkovic. The netminder was checked on the ice, but tried to remain in the contest.

After a few shifts, the NHL’s concussion spotters made the call to pull Nedeljkovic for testing. The Penguins had no choice but to swap Nedeljkovic with Tristan Jarry.

With the Avalanche pressing and looking to climb all the way back from down 4-0, the Penguins are looking for Jarry to shut the door.

UPDATE: Nedeljkovic did return to the game aftre Jarry allowed the game-tying goal. The Penguins eventually lost in overtime with Nedeljkovic in net.

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