The Pittsburgh Penguins are expected to start goaltender Casey DeSmith for Sunday’s home game against the New York Rangers at PPG Paints Arena.

In seven games this season, DeSmith has a 4-2-0 record along with a 2.73 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage.

At 6-foot and 181 pounds, DeSmith is one of the smaller goaltenders in the NHL. Based on rosters from late January, the average height of goaltenders is 6-foot-2.5 and 200.1 pounds.

“Casey, although he’s not very big, he’s very athletic and I think that’s what allows him to be successful at this level,” coach Mike Sullivan said via video conference. “His quickness from post to post, his ability to read plays, understanding when he can be aggressive and take the shooting angle away or when he needs to play a little bit deeper to be able to get across the crease on a backdoor option, things of that sort, just his reads I think help him, along with his athleticism, to have success.”

Notes:

• After missing 16 games because of an undisclosed injury, Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues returned to the lineup in Saturday’s 4-3 home win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Skating primarily on the fourth line, he logged 10 minutes, 39 seconds of ice time on 16 shifts and was 2 for 4 on faceoffs. He also had some deployment on the power play (43 seconds) and penalty kill (5:15).

“He had a good game,” Sullivan said. “He hadn’t played in (16) games. That’s not an easy experience to get thrown into the game environment like that. He had a real strong game. He played (10:39), we used him on the penalty kill, I used him five-on-five. He helped us defend the lead at the end so I could have two center icemen on the ice with Teddy Blueger’s line, both a left shot and a right shot (for faceoffs).”

The malleability of Rodrigues, who can play all three forward positions, has great appeal to Sullivan.

“That’s the stuff that I think Evan has value in what he brings to our team,” Sullivan said. “He’s such a versatile player, he’s a natural center so he has a comfort level playing there. We could play him at center if we like. He can take faceoffs, and he’s pretty good at it. And he’s a right-handed shot as well, which we don’t have a lot, so he can take faceoffs on that right side drawing to his backhand. He can play the wing. We can move up the lineup. He has the offensive instincts to play in our top six (forwards) if we need him. But he also has a defensive conscience and defensive awareness, as well. We used him on the penalty kill, we used him on the second power-play (unit). So he’s really a utility player that we can utilize in so many different circumstances depending on what the need of the team is.”

In seven games this season, Rodrigues has one goal.

• The Penguins had an optional morning skate. The Rangers did not have a morning skate.

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