Penguins down to 5 defensemen; Pouliot won't play Friday

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.