COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Penguins had a well-deserved day off Thursday, the day after their 8-6 win over the Canucks.
With the day off, players and staff gathered at each other's homes to celebrate Thanksgiving. Mike Sullivan, for instance, had family and the Penguins' coaching staff over at his house for dinner. Another group was the Swedes -- Marcus Pettersson and his girlfriend spent the day at the home of Patric Hornqvist and his wife. Hornqvist and his wife were tasked with cooking dinner, and Pettersson and his girlfriend brought desserts.
I asked Pettersson if he thought he and Hornqvist were really embracing the American traditions.
"Not fully," Pettersson laughed. "We don't really know how to do it the full American way, so we did a mix. ... They didn't have turkey, actually. Their daughter Isabella wanted turkey so bad, so our team chef Jeff got some just for her. We had mashed potatoes, some sauce, stuffing. It was good."
Hornqvist's wife did most of the cooking, but Hornqvist added a little Swedish influence with his dish.
"Usually you have cranberry sauce, right?" Pettersson said. "We had lingonberry instead, so that's Swedish a little bit. ... I know (Hornqvist) did the sauce, it was really good."
Pettersson said his girlfriend did most of the work with the desserts, and he didn't contribute much. She made blueberry pie and picked up some Oreo cake pops from Starbucks.
Eight or nine other players gathered at the house of Jared McCann and his girlfriend.
"I had some of the guys over for turkey and ham," McCann said. "It was my first American Thanksgiving, I just had some of the teammates over. It was good."
Unlike the Swedes, McCann had his Thanksgiving catered.
"I don't trust myself enough yet to put that much pressure on Val and I," McCann laughed.
Sam Lafferty spent the day at McCann's, and contributed some store-bought desserts. He said the food was good, but the best part of the day was "just being around the guys."
John Marino also spent the day at McCann's house, something he was thankful to be able to do in his first Thanksgiving away from home as a pro.
"A lot of us can't be with our families, but we found a way to make it work, and spent some time together" said Marino. "It brings everyone a little bit closer."
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• The Penguins recalled forward Joseph Blandisi from Wilkes-Barre after the skate here. It's not clear why. Bryan Rust did fall into the boards at one point early on in the skate and left the ice for about two minutes, but was a full participant when he returned and Sullivan said "he'll be fine" when asked about his status after.
• Tristan Jarry will start in net for the Penguins. Joonas Korpisalo will be in net for the Blue Jackets.
• The Penguins held a lighter skate, only lasting about 20 minutes.
• The Penguins used the following new-look lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Dominik Kahun - Jared McCann - Patric Hornqvist
Alex Galchenyuk - Sam Lafferty - Dominik Simon
Zach Aston-Reese - Teddy Blueger - Brandon Tanev
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Jack Johnson - John Marino
Marcus Pettersson - Zach Trotman
Juuso Riikola - Chad Ruhwedel
From last game, that's Alex Galchenyuk moving from the second line to the third line, and Brandon Tanev moving from the second line to the fourth line. Hornqvist and Dominik Kahun were in their place after previously playing on the third line. Dominik Simon was put on the third line after playing last game on the fourth line.
On defense, it looks like Zach Trotman will be back in the lineup over Chad Ruhwedel on the pairing with Pettersson.
• Kris Letang will also have a different look tonight, as he shaved his beard, pictured above.
The Penguins skate Friday morning in Columbus. - TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS