Penguins’ Maatta in, Letang out versus Kings

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists as the Penguins made easy work of the Sharks, winning 5-1.

The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ blue line is set to receive a boost Saturday versus the Los Angeles Kings with the return of Olli Maatta, but the club will be without Kris Letang for the contest.

Maatta has not played since he suffered an upper-body injury in a Nov. 17 game versus the Minnesota Wild. The 21-year-old defenceman has two goals and four points in 18 games this season and plus-18 rating.

Letang will miss his first game of the season with an undisclosed injury. The two-time all-star left practice Thursday with what has been described as a “lingering injury.”

Letang has one goal and 14 points in 24 games this season. He’s currently sporting a team-worst minus-14 rating, although his 48.4 per cent Corsi for rating ranks third among Penguins regular defencemen.

The Kings host the Penguins at 4:00 p.m. ET Saturday.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.