Gonchar, Talbot return for Penguins in Ottawa

Help for the battered Pittsburgh Penguins is finally on the way.

Ace defenceman Sergei Gonchar(notes) and Stanley Cup hero Max Talbot(notes) will both return to the lineup when the Penguins visit the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night (7:30 p.m. ET).

The reinforcements can’t arrive fast enough for Pittsburgh, which had seen its top six defenceman wiped out by injuries.

Gonchar, 35, was the biggest name amongst the wounded. The Pens’ most dangerous scoring threat from the back line, Gonchar has missed 12 games with a broken wrist suffered in an Oct. 20 win over St. Louis.

At the time, Pittsburgh looked like the NHL’s best team with eight wins in its first nine games. Since then, the Penguins (14-7-0) have lost as many games as they’ve won, with the power play converting just one of 36 chances over the last nine contests without its regular point man.

Of course, it’s tough to play like Stanley Cup champions when minor leaguers are plugging the holes in your defence. In addition to Gonchar, Brooks Orpik(notes) and Kris Letang(notes) have been sidelined with injuries for more than a week.

The news got even worse this week as Alex Goligoski(notes), Pittsburgh’s highest-scoring defenceman this season, was lost for two to three weeks with a lower-body injury. A couple of days later, the Pens learned that Jay McKee(notes) would miss two to four weeks with a finger infection, of all things.

That left Mark Eaton(notes) as the sole healthy member from the original top six defencemen — at least until Wednesday, when the veteran left practice early with back spasms. Eaton didn’t take the morning skate Thursday, and will be a game-time decision. If he can’t go, Mark Lee, called up from the minors on Thursday, will make his NHL debut.

Orpik’s status is unclear. He took part in full contact drills at Wednesday’s practice, where Letang also skated in a red sweater signalling he’s not yet ready to be hit.

With so many of his regulars gone, coach Dan Bylsma had to call on no-names Deryk Engelland(notes), Ben Lovejoy(notes) and Nate Guenin(notes) — all of whom started the season on the farm — to log significant ice time Monday against Anaheim. Those guys held their own, and second-line forwards Matt Cooke(notes) and Jordan Staal(notes) combined for three goals in a 5-2 win over the Ducks.

Still, Talbot will be a welcome addition against the Senators. The affable centre emerged from obscurity in last spring’s playoffs by potting eight goals — two-thirds of his total from the entire regular season — during Pittsburgh’s championship run. That included both goals in the Pens’ 2-1 win in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final against Detroit.

Talbot hasn’t played since. The 25-year-old needed shoulder surgery in July, but is set to return on schedule.

“It just feels great to be back in the room,” Talbot said after Wednesday’s practice. “I want to do everything I can to help out. My shoulder is ready.”

Talbot and the Pens will face a Senators team dealing with a key blue-line injury of its own. Hard-hitting Anton Volchenkov(notes), who hasn’t played since dislocating an elbow on Oct. 28, has suffered a setback that will keep him out until at least next week.

“It didn’t respond a couple of day ago as well as we thought,” Senators coach Cory Clouston said Wednesday. “There’s a little more soreness in there. We wished, we hoped he’d be ready to play this weekend, but that’s not looking like the case. Mid-week is probably what we’re looking at.”

Ottawa (9-6-3) overcame the absence of Volchenkov in beating the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Tuesday.

The Senators remain home to face the Northeast Division-leading Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 6:30 p.m. ET).