The talent gap between the Penguins' forwards and the ones they will face in the qualifying round of the NHL's postseason next month has closed a bit.
As much as it possibly could, really.
That's because Max Domi, a Type 1 diabetic who considered sitting out the series because of the increased threat to his health that could be posed if he were to contract coronavirus, has decided to rejoin his teammates and participate in the postseason.
Domi was the Canadiens' No. 3 scorer during the regular season, putting up 17 goals and 27 assists in 71 games.
"I wanted to be here with my teammates," he told reporters Tuesday. "We're a group that's a real tight-knit group and they were great, very open-minded with things that were going on."
He added that he is confident that the steps team officials and medical personnel have taken at Montreal's practice facility in suburban Brossard minimize the dangers to his well-being.
"There really is no safer place to be," Domi said. "So I'm super-confident they are doing everything on their end and that we've just got to do everything on our end, with all the little things, like wearing masks and what-not and staying as clean as possible and following all the rules and guidelines that have been in place for a reason. We're doing that, and it seems to be working for now."
His teammates were predictably excited to have him return to active duty.
"He's taking a different risk than anyone else is taking," defenseman Ben Chiarot said. "It means a lot to me, personally, and guys in the room that he's doing this."
Here are the personnel combinations Montreal coach Claude Julien used at practice Tuesday:
FORWARDS
Tomas Tatar -- Jordan Weal -- Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin -- Nick Suzuki -- Joel Armia
Artturi Lehkonen -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Paul Byron
Charles Hudon -- Jake Evans -- Dale Weise
Laurent Dauphin -- Max Domi -- Alex Belzile
DEFENSEMEN
Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber
Gustav Olofsson -- Jeff Petry
Christian Folin -- Noah Juulsen
Josh Brook
GOALIES
Carey Price
Charlie Lindgren
Michael McNiven
