After Friday's practice in Cranberry, Mike Sullivan said that he would anticipate Sidney Crosby and Jeff Carter being "game-time decisions" for Saturday's game against the Devils, dependent on how they responded overnight to the practice.
Following Saturday's game-day skate, Sullivan said that Crosby and Carter would not be game-time decisions after all.
They'll play.
Crosby will make his season debut after undergoing offseason wrist surgery, and Carter will return to the lineup after testing positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 21.
After dropping the last two games to the Lightning and Flames, it goes without saying that the Penguins are looking forward to the two additions to the lineup.
"They offer us so much on both sides of the puck," Sullivan said of Crosby and Carter returning. "I think it gives us more depth, it makes our power play more dangerous. It makes matchups more difficult for our opponents. It has a ripple effect on our whole team."
The hope is that that ripple effect boosts the game of Jake Guentzel. Guentzel's only goal this season came in the Penguins' loss to the Panthers in Sunrise, the team's second game of the season and Guentzel's season debut. He has three assists in his six games this season. Getting Crosby back on his line should surely help Guentzel's production.
"This team relies on Jake to help us offensively, to be a good two-way player," Sullivan said. "He has the ability to be a real impact player for our team, and I think it goes without saying that when you add Sid into the lineup, it's a game-changer. Those two have had a certain chemistry for a long time, that's evident to all of us. I'm sure Sid's presence in the lineup will certainly help Jake in that regard."
After Thursday's 4-0 flameout to the Flames in which none of the Penguins' 45 shots on goal could solve Calgary goaltender Jacob Markstrom, Dominik Simon stated the obvious afterward by saying "we're missing these guys a lot" in regard to the stars missing from the Penguins' lineup.
They'll be happy to have two of them back tonight.
"We're just a much better hockey team when they're in our lineup," Sullivan said.
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• Bryan Rust took part in the optional morning skate in a non-contact jersey. It was the first time he's skated with the team in any capacity, other than the skates with injured players led by Ty Hennes. Sullivan said afterward that Rust's status hasn't changed.
"He's making progress," Sullivan added. "The fact that he's participating with the team, I think is just the next step in the in the rehab process."
• Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith both participated in the skate, with Jarry being the first goaltender off the ice, indicating that he will start.
• DeSmith wore his mask designed by Teddy Blueger in the skate. He didn't wear it in his start against the Flames, presumably still breaking it in.
• The 10 skaters who participated in the skate were Mike Matheson, Mark Friedman, Marcus Pettersson, Chad Ruhwedel, Teddy Blueger, Brian Boyle, Sam Lafferty, Drew O'Connor, Dominik Simon, and Rust
• O'Connor, Boyle and Blueger got in a lot of faceoff work with Mike Vellucci at the end of the skate. Something Vellucci has been having O'Connor do when practicing faceoffs for the past couple of days now is take then with his stick upside-down, using the knob at the top.
• Juuso Riikola seems likely to get into the lineup today, based off of the defense pairings in Friday's practice that had him working with Pettersson on the right side of the third pairing, with Friedman out of the lineup. Riikola had two assists in three games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, playing on the left side of either the first or second pairings, and quarterbacking the top power play unit.
"I've had some good conversations with Juuso," Wilkes-Barre head coach J.D. Forrest told me after Riikola's third game there. "He hasn't played a lot of games in the last year and a half. So I think he's excited to find some consistency down here with his play. I thought in the third period tonight, he was really good. He can be a game-changer for us when he's really on, because he's got that great shot. He can play physical, there's a lot of attributes that he has that we really like. He's an NHL defenseman, he really is. But he needs to continue to play some games here, get his timing, get all those things where he wants it to be. But it's nice to have him on the back end."
Riikola would presumably be playing on his right side if he does play tonight, something he's done quite often in his previous NHL stints. That's not something all defensemen are comfortable doing, but Sullivan thinks Riikola's skillset give him that versatility.
"Juuso's a real good skater, he has good puck skills," Sullivan said. "I think that gives him the ability to play both sides. He sees the ice really well, he can make outlet passes. In particular, one of his strengths is on the offensive blue line. He's got a real good shot, he gets pucks through. We can utilize him on the powerplay. He brings all of those things to our group."
• Devils assistant coaches Mark Recchi and Alain Nasreddine were on the Devils' bench during the skate, catching up with some of the Penguins' players. Nasreddine was an assistant coach in Wilkes-Barre under John Hynes from 2010-15 before players like Rust and Brian Dumoulin made it to the NHL.
• Happy 10-year anniversary to this picture of Evgeni Malkin and Crosby:
— Evgeni Malkin (@emalkin71geno) October 31, 2011
