Martin close to returning; Sill in for Goc

A few notes from today’s morning skate:

-The status of Penguins defenseman Paul Martin for tonight’s home game against the Bruins is not certain but head coach Mike Johnston is optimistic he will be in the lineup.

“For him, he’s close,” Johnston said. “I would say if he doesn’t play tonight, he’s definitely going to play in Montreal [Saturday]. So he’s going to play one of these next two games for sure.”

Martin participated in the morning skate but did not speak with media afterwards.He has missed eight consecutive games due to an undisclosed injury.

-Center Marcel Goc will not play due to an illness which has bothered him for a few days. After skipping Monday’s practice, he returned to practice Tuesday.

“He felt better yesterday,” Johnston said. “He’s sick again today. It’s just a sickness. It’s nothing else to be concerned about but he wasn’t feeling good again today so he won’t play tonight.”

-Goc will be replaced in the lineup by center Zach Sill according to Johnston.

“[Sill] will play tonight so he’s back and ready to go,“ Johnston said. ”He has been tested and physically tested on the ice. ... Certainly a guy who we’ve started to use in the last three weeks, before he went out, on the penalty kill. We see for [Sill] that’s going to be a big role going forward. And without a guy like [Goc] in tonight, it’s good we have Sill back because he’s becoming a very good penalty killer.“

Sill was sporting a piece of foam or padding taped to his left shoulder after the skate. He has missed 11 games due to an undisclosed injury suffered during a 3-1 home win against the Flames, Dec. 12

-Martin and Sill each remain listed on injured reserve per the roster on the team’s Web site as of 12:30 p.m.

-Neither team used line rushes this morning.

-Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is scheduled to start for the Penguins. Tuukka Rask is expected to start in net for Boston.

Update: Defenseman Scott Harrington was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Martin and Sill were each activated from injured reserve.