Penguins activate Murray from injured reserve

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray was activated off injured reserve on Tuesday.

Murray missed five games with a lower-body injury sustained during the Penguins' 5-4 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 27. The two-time Stanley Cup champion is 11-7-1 with a 2.95 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in 21 games (20 starts). 

Goaltender Casey DeSmith was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

The Penguins face the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, SN360, ATTSN-RM, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV), when Murray could oppose goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, his teammate on Pittsburgh's back-to-back Cup-winning teams in 2016 and '17. Fleury was selected by the Golden Knights in the NHL Expansion Draft on June 21 and was activated off injured reserve Sunday after missing 25 games with a concussion.

Pens recall goaltender DeSmith from AHL, could be due to Murray's injury

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled goaltender Casey DeSmith from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

This obviously means that Pens starting goalteder Matt Murray may miss some time between the pipes. Murray was hurt in Pittsburgh's game last night against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Murray exited with 4:21 left in the second period after Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek crashed into him during a breakaway. The 23-year-old two-time Cup winner managed to skate off under his own power before limping down the runway clearly favoring his right leg. Murray will be re-evaluated on Tuesday.

Since returning to WBS earlier this month, the 6-foot-1, 181-pound DeSmith had assumed the top goaltending chores, compiling a 9-2-1 record, 2.29 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in 12 AHL appearances. He helped backstop the WBS Penguins to the top record in the AHL at the time of his recall.

DeSmith, 26, logged his first NHL action with the Penguins earlier this season. He made his NHL debut on October 29 in Winnipeg against the Jets.

- Joey Gucciardo