CRANBERRY, Pa. -- It feels like every Penguins practice story these days brings some good news and bad news as far as injury updates go, and Wednesday's practice at the Lemieux Complex was no different.
The bad: Jared McCann's status has been changed from "day-to-day" to "week-to-week" with a lower-body injury.
The good: Marcus Pettersson practiced with the team today for the first time since he was injured on Jan. 19, albeit in a gray no-contact jersey. He had previously been skating in the small taxi squad skates.
Mike Sullivan called Pettersson being back on the ice "encouraging."
"I feel good," Pettersson said after practice. "I'm getting better every day. It feels really good to be back out there with the team and get some reps in. As much as I love (skills coach Ty Hennes, who runs the taxi squad skates), it's nice to get out with the team and skate with them. So it felt really good."
Pettersson was injured in the Penguins' game against the Capitals three weeks ago after an open-ice hit by T.J. Oshie at center ice.
Pettersson said that he hasn't watched the clip of the hit back.
"I know I have to keep my eyes up a little bit more," he said. "I might have been expecting him to come from there. Those things happen. ... I just know that you can't be staring at the puck when you make a pass. I've learned from that."
I asked Pettersson for his thoughts on the team's play as of late and what he's learned after he's been able to watch the games from a different angle.
"Yeah, we've had a little tough stretch, a good stretch, up-and-down," he said. "We've had a lot of injuries throughout our lineup. I thought the guys that were coming in have done a good job. You know, we're in a dogfight in our division. There's a lot of good teams, you can see in the standings right now too. It's been fun to watch the battle. We go out there and battle every day. To see it firsthand, I think we've got to keep battling, because it's going to be a dogfight going in. It's been good to see it from a different perspective, and see small things and details out there. I try to learn from that."
Pettersson only played in four games this season before his injury. He scored one goal in the game before he was injured, and recorded a combined minus-2 rating in his four games. He registered 10 hits, four coming in the game in which he was injured. He wasn't entirely satisfied with his play before the injury, and he'll look to use this time off to regroup and hopefully come out playing better than he was before.
"I think I was doing okay," Pettersson said of his own play before the injury. "I got a goal, a little confidence. I think there were times I was doing well, and times I could do better. I think I can take this time and reset, I didn't get in many games before I got injured. So kind of hit the reset button, just get back to what I do good, get back to doing the small things right and take it from there."
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Evgeni Malkin left practice about midway through, during the special teams work. It wasn't clear why at the time. Sullivan said after practice that Malkin had an irritation in his eye that was bothering him so they took him out of practice as a precaution.
• The first power play, before Malkin left, was Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, and Kris Letang. After Malkin left, Kasperi Kapanen stepped in in his place.
• The second power play was John Marino, Mike Matheson, P.O Joseph, Jason Zucker, and Drew O'Connor, the rare two-forward, three-defenseman combination. They got off more shot attempts in practice working against the Penguins' top penalty kill than the top power play has been getting off in games, so maybe the more defensemen, the better.
The 2F/3D second unit still attempts more shots than the first unit has been doing in games. pic.twitter.com/dW9CQCgwdj
— Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) February 10, 2021
• The regular line rush work came after the special teams work. With no Malkin, Sam Lafferty filled in on the second line.
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker-Sam Lafferty-Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Brandon Tanev
Drew O'Connor-Mark Jankowski-Colton Sceviour
P.O Joseph-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-John Marino
Marcus Pettersson-Cody Ceci/Chad Ruhwedel
Kevin Czuczman-Yannick Weber
• Letang and Mike Matheson were the last guys on the ice for practice, an upset over the usual last guys out there, Teddy Blueger and Joseph. Letang and Matheson were both just working on their shot. At one point Letang hit the post and ribbed Matheson, saying "That was the Mike Matheson special."
• Matheson stayed out a bit later than Letang and only came off the ice when head athletic trainer Chris Stewart came out looking for him. When Stewart found Matheson still on the ice, he yelled, "That explains why you weren't answering your phone!"
• Brian Dumoulin watched practice from the bench again.
• Ron Hextall and Brian Burke haven't made it to Pittsburgh yet. Assistant general manager Patrik Allvin watched practice from the box above the ice.
