Just as the Penguins got one player back in center Evgeni Malkin, they lost another before the game last night against Boston at Mellon Arena.

Left winger Chris Kunitz has been pulled from the lineup for two weeks because of a nagging, but unspecified, injury.

"Chris has been dealing with a lower-body injury for a little while now," coach Dan Bylsma said.

"We're going to, at this point in time, take two weeks off for a rest period, try to get him healthy and back to where he can focus on playing the game and not worry about how healthy he is when he gets out there."

Kunitz did not practice Friday or participate in the morning skate yesterday. What the Penguins are doing with him is similar to what happened with Malkin, who returned against the Bruins after missing seven games.

Malkin was playing despite a strained right shoulder before the Penguins decided to shut him down, also for what at the time was described to be about two weeks.

Kunitz could miss about eight games.

Also still out are defensemen Sergei Gonchar (wrist), Brooks Orpik (lower body) and Kris Letang (shoulder) and forwards Tyler Kennedy (groin) and Max Talbot (shoulder).

Kennedy skated before the morning skate, and Bylsma put a timetable on his return for the first time.

"He is progressing and he is in the time frame of, guessing, seven to 10 days," the coach said. "As he keeps progressing, that time frame might change."

Kennedy has missed the past five games and eight of the past nine.

Before long, opposing players might want to start donning shades when they close in on Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Friday, Fleury started breaking in a new set of equipment at practices -- "Maybe a good week of practice, week and half" to get them game-ready, he said.

They are completely bright white.

"Usually, I like just a little bit of gold in them, but now the model they make has a lot of gold," he said. "So I'll try all white. A little different."

Fleury used pads that were a distinctive yellow earlier in his career and now uses pads that are white with some gold striping and accents.

A bantam team from Peterborough, Ontario -- coached by former NHL goaltender Ron Tugnutt, who played briefly with the Penguins -- was invited to watch the Penguins' morning skate.

The team is in town to play in a tournament.

One team on Peterborough's tournament schedule is the bantam minor team in the Junior Penguins' organization, which is coached by Penguins Hall of Famer and co-owner Mario Lemieux.

His son, Austin, plays on the team.

Penguins president David Morehouse attended the game, six days after he had a heart attack as the team was preparing to fly from San Jose to Boston.

Morehouse had a minor procedure in a San Jose hospital and returned home to Pittsburgh Thursday.

Bruins winger and former Penguin Mark Recchi, who turns 42 in February, on whether he has pondered his future beyond this season: "Not yet. It's year by year. I'll figure it out at the end of the year. At this point, it's just year by year. I'll see how I'll feel. See if I'm up for the challenge of getting ready for the next season." ... The Penguins had no healthy scratches last night. ... The Bruins scratched center Trent Whitfield and defenseman Johnny Boychuk.

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