PENGUINS McKenna cleared, but will sit tonight

The Pittsburgh forward will wear a face shield after suffering an eye injury.
CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- For more than two weeks, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Steve McKenna has waited for medical clearance to resume play. Now that he's received it, he'll have to wait a bit longer before he actually sees live action.
"Mac has been cleared to play, but we're going to hold him out of [tonight's] game [at Montreal]," Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk said Wednesday. "We'll make a decision as the weekend comes as far as Detroit on Saturday."
McKenna was hit in the right eye with a puck during an Oct. 2 practice. He was placed on injured reserve and resumed skating almost immediately, but has been held out of contact drills awaiting the approval of team doctors.
"The docs gave me the go-ahead, so it's just a matter of when the coaching staff wants to throw me in there," McKenna said. "No one likes sitting there waiting. It's a tough position to be in. You want to get out there and play and be with the guys, but that's just the way the game goes."
Roster move due
When McKenna is activated, Pittsburgh general manager Craig Patrick will have to make a roster move, but the organization has yet to determine who will be making the trip to Wilkes-Barre.
"We have not made any decisions on that and it weighs heavily when we do bring Mac off," Olczyk said. "Craig and I will talk on the airplane and once we get to Montreal."
When McKenna returns, he will be forced to wear a face shield for two weeks, something that doesn't sit well with his rough-and-tumble style.
"It was kind of a compromise, either do it or wait another couple of weeks until it's totally 100 percent healed," McKenna said. "It's just something I don't want to wear."
While McKenna waits, he'll have a new face in the press box with him while he watches the Penguins take on the Canadiens at the Bell Centre. Pittsburgh will dress forward Ramzi Abid for the first time this season and make Reid Simpson a healthy scratch.
Abid to play
Abid played in only three games last season after being acquired at the trade deadline from Phoenix in the deal that sent Jan Hrdina westward before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
"It was a little disappointing not playing in the first two games, but I really didn't have a good camp coming off a pretty serious injury," Abid said. "Right now I just want to help the team as much as I can."
Against a fast lineup like that of the Canadiens, which features proven goal scorers Yanic Perreault, Donald Audette and Joe Juneau and a strong goaltender in Jose Theodore, upgraded speed in the Penguins lineup can only help.
"They're a team that's really quick and playing with a lot of confidence right now," Olczyk said. "Their defense moves the puck extremely well, they've got some guys back there that know how to move it and jump into the play."