Penguins defenseman Kris Letang will miss Monday’s road game against the New York Rangers because of an undisclosed injury. Coach Mike Sullivan termed his absence as “day to day.”

Letang, the team’s top defenseman, left Saturday’s 5-4 overtime road win against the Rangers at 10 minutes, 15 seconds of the first period. He appeared to be injured after making contact with Rangers defenseman Adam Fox in the Penguins’ left wing corner boards on a fairly mundane check.

Letang has appeared in nine games this season and has three assists. He leads the team with 24:36 of average ice time this season.

With Letang sidelined, John Marino is in position tonight to become the Penguins’ only defenseman to have played in all 10 of the team’s games this season.

“It’s been pretty crazy with the injuries,” Marino said via video conference. “But there’s not much you can do about it. The most we can do is have that next-guy-up mentality. Just keep plugging away. Once it’s out of everyone’s control, you just keep playing.”

Notes:

• The Penguins are scheduled to start goaltender Casey DeSmith for the second consecutive game. In four games this season, DeSmith has a 3-0-0 record along with a 3.05 goals-against average and an .875 save percentage.

• Forward Sam Lafferty appears slated to remain in the lineup. He replaced forward Colton Sceviour on Saturday. On 11 shifts, Lafferty logged 9:12 of ice time and had one shot on net.

Prior to Saturday, Lafferty had not played since Jan. 17 and was assigned to the taxi squad for most of that time.

Sullivan thought well of what Lafferty offered Saturday.

“He was physical,” Sullivan said. “He was reliable defensively. (The fourth) line, I thought, had some real good offensive zone shifts and puck pursuit shifts. They helped us control territory. They brought us some energy. That’s the expectation of that line. Sam in particular, him and I have had a number of discussions on just trying to be crystal clear in defining what his role is on this team and how he can help us win. Sam responded extremely well. He brought a lot of energy to our team.”

• After getting power-play goals in four of their first five games, the Penguins have been held without a power-play score in their past four games, going 0 for 13 over that span.

Following Saturday’s game, captain Sidney Crosby deconstructed the malfunctions of the power play.

“It’s just execution,” Crosby said. “We’re well prepared. We understand what we need to do. We’ve just got to find a way to execute and make sure that we have the same level of compete that the penalty kill that we’re playing against has. That’s such a big part of the power play. You get out there sometimes and obviously, you’re excited. You want to work the puck around. You want to use your skill. But I think we’ve got to make sure that we understand that our work ethic sets the tone for everything. Making sure that we’re quick to get to pucks, loose pucks, turn pucks over if we need to, be strong on them. It starts with that.”

• Sullivan declined to answer a question regarding the team’s travel plans and how they might be impacted by the winter storm that has hit much of the Northeast. The Penguins are scheduled to fly home following Monday’s game host the New Jersey Devils at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

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