As the Pittsburgh Penguins fight for their playoff lives, they'll be down to five defensemen Friday night.
Derrick Pouliot will not play against the New York Islanders after the rookie blue-liner suffered an upper-body injury in Tuesday's 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
Kris Letang remains out with a concussion and Christian Ehrhoff has an upper-body injury.
Head coach Mike Johnston said Ehrhoff could make his return before season's end, but that's not likely.
"He’ll be doubtful for tomorrow, but I wouldn’t rule it out."
Tthe Penguins travel to face the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in their final regular season contest. They hold the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot with 96 points, one point ahead of the Boston Bruins with a game in hand.
Pouliot has 31 points in 65 games split between the NHL club and their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
