Mike Sullivan described Sidney Crosby as a "full participant" in the Penguins' practice in Toronto Monday.
His teammates seemed to notice.
They usually do.
And, predictably, they liked what they saw of him during that workout.
"He looks good every day," linemate Jake Guentzel said. "It's obviously nice to have him out there. He's the catalyst for our team so whenever he's out, just the way he plays, he makes us that much better."
It's not known if Crosby will get a chance to prove that when the Penguins face Philadelphia in an exhibition game Tuesday at 4 p.m. -- Sullivan said that decision will be made on the day of the game -- but whether Crosby is involved or not, the Penguins figure to be fairly focused.
After all, it will be their only run-in with another club before Game 1 of their qualifying-round series against Montreal Saturday at 8 p.m. at Scotiabank Arena. And while the play almost certainly will be ragged at times -- the Penguins haven't played in anything except intra-squad scrimmages since March 10 -- chances are both teams will compete with an edge not usually found in exhibition games.
Not even ones between opponents with a long, and often bitter, rivalry.
"It's going to be good to get out there and finally play a game," winger Brandon Tanev said. "It's been a while. We've played scrimmages against ourselves at training camp, but it's not the same when you're going out there and playing against an opponent, against a different team. That's going to be good for all of us."
Sullivan didn't divulge many details of his plans for the Flyers game -- in addition to the uncertainty of Crosby's involvement, it's not clear whether he will stick with one goalie or split the game between Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry -- but appears to anticipate a high-energy performance by his team.
"It's the first time we're going to have a chance to compete against an opponent," he said. "I think our players are excited about that. I think they've had enough of playing against each other."
Although Guentzel doesn't make a habit of physically punishing opponents -- he does his most of his damage with points, not penalty minutes -- he suggested that he might make a point of playing the body a few times against the Flyers.
"It'll be good for us," he said. "You can rub guys more, hit guys more. ... I think it will be a really intense game. You only get one tuneup against another team before the playoffs. I think both teams will get that fire under themselves."
IF nothing else, facing opponents with a different crest on their sweaters should be a nice change for the Penguins after competing against themselves for the past two weeks.
"Not going against your own guys, you can develop a little more of a hate for the other team," Bryan Rust said. "Just getting those competitive juices going is going to be really good."
While the Penguins are quite familiar with Philadelphia, there will be something different about the game Tuesday: The absence of a crowd.
That will be new for the Penguins -- "It's something we're not quite used to," Rust said -- although they figure to get used to it in coming days and, they hope, weeks.
At the very least, the Flyers game should give them an opportunity to assess their overall game as they move into the third week of preparations for the Montreal series.
"It's been good so far," Guentzel said. "There's a lot of energy in the practices and I think we're all excited to get going."
The Canadiens appear to be equally enthused to get the qualifying round started, and held their first workout Monday since arriving in Toronto. Here are the personnel combinations coach Claude Julien used:
FORWARDS
Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin -- Nick Suzuki -- Joel Armia
Artturi Lehkonen -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Paul Byron
Dale Weise -- Max Domi -- JordanWeal
Ryan Poehling, Jake Evans, Alex Belzile, Charles Hudon
DEFENSEMEN
Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber
Brett Kulak-- Jeff Petry
Xavier Ouellet -- Victor Mete
Gustav Olofsson -- Christian Folin
Cale Fleury -- Noah Juulsen
GOALIES
Carey Price
Charlie Lindgren
Michael McNiven
Cayden Primeau
