CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Patric Hornqvist joined his teammates for a full practice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Wednesday for the first time in over four months.
Hornqvist was one of the nine players held out since the start of training camp out of an abundance of caution due to possible secondary exposure to someone with coronavirus.
Hornqvist and the eight other players were cleared to rejoin the team on Tuesday, but with Tuesday being a scrimmage day, and Mike Sullivan wanting to give the players a day of skating before jumping into the scrimmage, the nine players skated on their own on the second rink at the Lemieux Complex.
Hornqvist had a smile on his face for much of Wednesday's practice, and you could tell by his energy how excited he was just to be back on the ice with the team.
“It felt good to be back," he said after practice. "It’s always fun to see the boys and skate with them. We have a great opportunity here in front of us. It’s going to be a hell of a ride. We have to make sure we go out there and earn it.”
Sullivan was impressed with the way Hornqvist was able to perform in the practice after so much time off.
"He’s just the consummate pro," Sullivan said. "He just takes care of himself. He does things the right way, and his work ethic is off the charts, when it comes to his conditioning. To be able to step into a practice like that today with basically two skates under his belt in the last couple of weeks, I think is impressive. That just gives you an indication of his work ethic and how he takes care of himself.”
Hornqvist went home to Sweden during the shutdown, where restrictions were loosened. He was able to skate a fair amount, and worked out almost every day, sometimes in an outdoor setting:
Hornqvist was able to continue working out at home for the first week of training camp, and also spoke with the coaches over the phone during that time. He said it was tough to miss that first week of camp, but is putting that behind him and just looking forward now.
Hornqvist skated on the third line during the practice alongside Patrick Marleau and Jared McCann.
"(McCann) looks great out there," Hornqvist said of his line. "He can really fly and shoots the puck probably harder than anyone on the team. You have to make sure he gets the puck as much as he can in the middle and feed me and (Marleau) on the sides, create a lot of cycle game and take it to the net. I like our line how it's been so far, and hopefully we can get better here every day."
Sullivan, when asked about the third line, spoke about how well-rounded it is.
“All three of them are real good players," Sullivan said. "I think they have the ability to be difference-makers in games. That’s a good, solid 200-foot line. Jared McCann has good offensive instincts; he can really skate. Patty Marleau can really skate. He’s just a good, conscientious 200-foot player. He has a good shot. And Horny’s a guy who brings some bite and some competitive spirit to that line. Horny’s another guy who’s pretty conscientious defensively, as well. We think there’s a little bit of everything on that line. That line has the ability to be a real good 200-foot line for us, on both sides of the puck.”
That spirit that Hornqvist brings isn't limited to just his line. Players have spoken throughout camp about the energy he brings to practices, and how his presence was missed during the first few days of camp. Crosby said on Day 1 that "Everyone knows Horny and what he brings on and off the ice, everyone notices when he's not there."
Sullivan was happy to have that energy back at the rink today.
"He brings a certain level of enthusiasm to our group," said Sullivan. "We think it's contagious. The bounce in our step is different when he's with us, when he's on the bench with us, when he's in the locker room. He's a real enthusiastic guy, he brings a ton of energy to our rink. I don't think he's ever had a bad day in his life. He's just a real positive guy. ... He's a hell of a hockey player on top of that. We're certainly a much better team when he's around and in our lineup, and our environment is much more fun to be in when he's a part of it."
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Crosby skated on his own before practice but didn't participate in practice. More on that here.
• Of the nine players who were initially held out of training camp, only Hornqvist and Juuso Riikola skated with the main group. I didn't see Alex D'Orio skate at all, but the other six joined Casey DeSmith and Emil Larmi for a Black Aces skate after practice. With Riikola back with the main group, Kevin Czuczman was also bumped to the second group.
• Sullivan said after practice that they would be bringing four goaltenders to Toronto, two extra goalies to join Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry. I'd expect DeSmith and Larmi to be the other two.
• Lines and pairings in practice:
Jake Guentzel -- Evan Rodrigues -- Conor Sheary
Jason Zucker -- Evgeni Malkin -- Bryan Rust
Patrick Marleau -- Jared McCann -- Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese -- Teddy Blueger -- Brandon Tanev
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson -- John Marino
Jack Johnson -- Justin Schultz
Juuso Riikola -- Chad Ruhwedel
Sam Lafferty rotated in with the third and fourth lines, taking turns at both wing and center.
• The top power play was Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Hornqvist, and McCann
• The second power play was Justin Schultz, John Marino, Conor Sheary, Bryan Rust, and Jason Zucker.
• Letang and Schultz switched units midway through the special teams work.
• Thursday is going to function like a full gameday, beginning with players reporting to the rink at the usual time for separate morning skates.
"It’s going to be as close to a game day as we can possibly come," Sullivan said. "There are going to be meetings at the same times we always have them. There are going to be morning skates. They’ll get pregame meals. The players will have an opportunity to go through a routine game day.”
• For the players who weren't cleared until Tuesday, it'll be the first scrimmage action of camp.
"I'm looking forward to it for sure," Hornqvist said. "It's been a long time here with not playing a game, so I know it's going to be tough and it's going to be intense. But that's what we need at this point. We need to get better every day."
• The first two scrimmages were two teams of two forward lines and two defense pairings. Thursday's scrimmage will be two teams of three forward lines and six defensemen. So some of the Black Aces will play.
• Hornqvist's wife and two young daughters stayed back in Sweden when he returned to Pittsburgh.
"It's a tough situation, but we are all in the same boat," Hornqvist said. "We have an opportunity in front of us to do something. We're obviously going to miss our families, but we have an opportunity here to do something good."
• Players are required to wear suits to the games under normal circumstances. There is no league-wide dress code in the bubble, though. With no suits, Chad Ruhwedel said that the team is probably going to dress in a similar way to each other, but that he wasn't sure what it was yet.
• Ruhwedel was asked who he thought showed up to camp with the best quarantine hair.
"Tanev's been growing his for quite awhile now," he said. "I'm not going to say it looks good, but it's long."
• Usually for busy media scrums a PR person will end it after a few minutes and say when it's the last question. Hornqvist likes to end his own media scrums himself. In a normal locker room setting, when he decides he's done he'll quickly add a "thanks, guys" to the end of the last sentence and already be halfway out of the room before he's finished saying it. He jokingly tried to do the same thing today:
