Practice report: Penguins keep mood light entering holiday break

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- With Tuesday's Penguins-Devils game being postponed and the NHL going on a league-wide pause on Wednesday, Tuesday's practice was the Penguins' last team activity before the holiday break.

The vibe at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Tuesday was not unlike that of the last day of school before a holiday break. All it was missing was Mike Sullivan wheeling a TV into the locker room and putting on the movie "Elf" for everyone. It was high-energy and fun, with players celebrating hard for seemingly every single goal scored.

There wasn't any special teams work, and no real five-on-five drills with line rushes. Skills coach Ty Hennes, fresh out of COVID protocol, led the entire session, which primarily consisted of small-area games and drills.

Players were divided into two teams that went head-to-head in the drills. Early in the practice, players worked on 2-on-0 drills, with each side shooting simultaneously as Hennes kept score. After Hennes yelled "next goal wins," both sides scored, forcing overtime. Evan Rodrigues and Bryan Rust scored on their next attempt to win it for the team wearing black, leading to another round of heavy celebrations:

The black team also won the final drill of the practice, with players immediately going into the post-practice stretch circle afterward.

PENGUINS

Mark Friedman, Evgeni Malkin, Kasperi Kapanen celebrate the final drill of practice Tuesday.

Evgeni Malkin didn't like that.

Malkin's team had won the last drill, but with everyone going right into the stretches, the other group didn't have to go through any sort of consequences for losing the drill.

Malkin piped up from outside the circle and loudly pleaded his case to both Hennes and Sullivan that the losers should have to do pushups. After a lot of pressing, Malkin got his way, and the losing team had to do pushups. Goaltending coach Andy Chiodo even joined in and did a few:

TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS

The gold team does their post-practice pushups. Evgeni Malkin (top right) expresses his displeasure with Marcus Pettersson's pushups while Kris Letang and Kasperi Kapanen correct John Marino's form.

Marcus Pettersson had to do a few extra. Malkin was kneeling behind him, and Malkin either didn't think Pettersson did enough, or wasn't satisfied with the quality of the pushups Pettersson did, and made him do them again. He was whacking Pettersson on the back of his skates with his stick in full drill sergeant mode.

With the postponements of games and all the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming schedule, a day like today was just great for the team's morale.

"There's a lot of stuff you can't control, especially in this world we live in today," Danton Heinen said. "You can still come to the rink and have a smile on your face. So it was fun just to have a kind of a light one out there before a break."

While the mood was light, the players still see a day like today as a productive one.

"It's still competitive, right? You saw the different end results and the different games that we played," Brian Boyle said. "We like to compete, no one really wants to lose. So things like that are a lot of fun. It's a great way to get something out of the day when it's been such a crazy schedule change, and things are different. We got some work in and made it a productive day. But again, hockey's always fun, it's supposed to be fun. We went out there today, and it was a little more fun than most practices."

MORE FROM PRACTICE

• Jason Zucker and Chad Ruhwedel missed practice with maintenance days. This is Zucker's fifth maintenance day this month and third in a row after also missing practice Saturday and Monday, despite playing in Sunday's game.

"They're a little bit banged up," Sullivan said. "So it's an opportunity to get them some rest. I think for some of our guys, this little bit of a break will be beneficial. And those are two guys that I think it'll help."

• Malkin, Jake Guentzel and Rust wore non-contact jerseys, though they all took a fair amount of contact jumping into the glass and other players celebrating goals during the session. That counts, right?

• There was brief five-on-five work, but there weren't any real solid line combinations with Malkin, Guentzel, Rust and Boyle all rotating in, sometimes even on defense. They mostly stuck to the same combinations they've been using in recent games, with the rehabbing guys just mixing in.

• Boyle was a full participant for the first time since he was sidelined with what Sullivan called "nagging lower-body stuff." Boyle said that what he was dealing with was something he hasn't ever really had to deal with before, and added that he feels a lot better now.

"I told everyone I was 100% today in the room, but it's tough to get to (100%) this time of year," Boyle said with a laugh. "You know, using this rest will be even better. And I think I'm over the hump, which is great."

• Rodrigues was asked about Zach Aston-Reese's increased physicality this season.

"I don't know if he's doing anything more, I think he's just getting more recognition because you don't have (Brandon Tanev) flying around taking the eyes away from him," Rodrigues said. "So I think you're starting to notice it more that Reeser does his part. He plays a heavy, physical game, and he's key to the success of that line."

• Congratulations to Sam Lafferty, a champion gingerbread house decorator:

• Consensus is that 'Home Alone' is the best Christmas movie. I like how Rodrigues was almost offended by the idea that there's any answer to this other than Elf, and Lafferty choosing Love, Actually is also funny:

• The AHL postponed tomorrow’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton game in Rochester game due to COVID protocols affecting Wilkes-Barre. Last I heard on Saturday, Radim Zohorna, Felix Robert, Nathan Legare, and Niclas Almari were in protocol for either positive tests or close contacts.