DETROIT -- The auditions are over.

The final reviews should be in tomorrow.

The Penguins finished their preseason schedule with a 4-1 loss to Detroit at Joe Louis Arena last night. After a day off today, general manager Ray Shero, his staff and the coaches are expected to settle on the roster the Penguins will use for their regular-season opener Friday against the New York Rangers at Mellon Arena.

Precisely who will be in that personnel mix is not known, but Shero said the Penguins will not carry 23 players, the maximum allowed by the league's labor agreement.

"I could be convinced to carry 20, or I could be convinced to carry [up to] 22," he said. "I don't see [23] being a possibility.

"It's not practical. Some of these players need to be playing. We don't have a heavy schedule early. ... I don't think there's any reason to carry 23."

Goalie John Curry was assigned to the Penguins' minor league team in Wilkes-Barre yesterday, leaving them with 28 players -- 17 forwards, 9 defensemen and 2 goalies -- still in camp. Forward Max Talbot, recovering from shoulder surgery, will open the season on injured reserve and will not count against the 23-man limit.

Defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who has a shoulder injury, technically will be on injured reserve, but his salary-cap hit will be nominal and he officially will be assigned to the minor league team once he is deemed to be healthy.

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PREVIEW LINEUP

The Penguins open the season Friday night at Mellon Arena vs. the New York Rangers. What fans can expect in the days leading up to the opener:

Sunday: Are the Penguins up for a repeat run?

Today: The Penguins can expect a bulkier, stronger Atlantic Division bent on negating their speed and offense.

Tuesday: Up close and personal with Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Also: A breakdown of the team with which the Penguins begin defense of the Cup.

THE OPENER

• Game: Penguins vs. New York Rangers.

• When: 7:30 p.m. Friday.

• Where: Mellon Arena.

• TV: FSN Pittsburgh.

• Of note: The team will raise its title banner before the game.

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The Penguins faced the Red Wings without Sidney Crosby, who has a groin injury, as well as center Evgeni Malkin, defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Mark Eaton and left winger Ruslan Fedotenko.

With three of his top-six forwards and two of their half-dozen defensemen out of uniform, coach Dan Bylsma had to scramble his forwards lines and defense pairings, sending out combinations that do not figure to be together for the regular-season opener Friday against the Rangers.

The Penguins are optimistic about having Crosby back for that game.

"He'll probably [skate] on his own again [today], and, hopefully, be able to go on Tuesday or Wednesday for practice," Shero said.

He added that "we don't anticipate" Crosby being out for the start of the season.

Crosby's team could have used him against the Red Wings, because, after Pascal Dupuis gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 1:42 of the opening period, Detroit responded with goals by Johan Franzen (6:09) in the first period and Pavel Datsyuk (4:05) and Jason Williams (15:45) in the second.

Ville Leino put the game out of reach with a power-play goal, the Red Wings' third of the game, at 14:46 of the final period, beating Marc-Andre Fleury from in front through a Tomas Holmstrom screen.

The Penguins finished preseason play 1-4-1, going 0-4-1 after a 5-4 overtime victory against Columbus in the exhibition opener.

Not that the outcome of exhibition games is a major concern.

"At the end of the day," Shero said, "the record is not the most important thing in the preseason."

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