CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Jason Zucker managed to have a sense of humor about his awful injury luck.
When Zucker stepped onto the ice for Wednesday's practice at the Lemieux Complex, an errant puck lightly hit the blade of his skate. He feigned an injury, grasping at his leg before dramatically falling to the ice, rolling around on the ground for some added flair.
He and a couple of teammates had a little laugh about it before going into their pre-practice stretching routines.
Zucker has good reason to be in such a light mood.
After suffering a pretty scary-looking apparent lower-body injury in the Penguins' game in Minnesota on Thursday -- his first game back after undergoing core muscle surgery on Jan. 25 -- Zucker was back at practice again on Wednesday in a full-contact capacity, a surprising sight given how much pain Zucker appeared to be in after the injury.
"Zucks, he seems to have a high pain tolerance," Jeff Carter said with a smile. "I think we're all lucky that it wasn't as serious as everybody first thought."
All signs are pointing toward Zucker's latest return being imminent.
Zucker took regular line rushes in his usual spot on the second line, alongside Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell. He rotated with several different forwards on the second power play unit. Mike Sullivan said after practice that Zucker's status would still be considered "day-to-day," but added that Zucker will be making the trip to New York for the Penguins' game against the Rangers on Thursday.
PENGUINS
Jason Zucker boards the team plane for New York after practice on Wednesday.
"I thought he had a good practice today," Sullivan said. "He didn't miss too much time, which is encouraging. So we were able to put him in a full participation circumstance. I thought he did really well in practice. We were certainly encouraged with what we saw out there today."
Reflecting on that game in Minnesota, Zucker called it a "weird deal." It was already an emotional game for him, being his first game back in Minnesota since he was traded to the Penguins. He had family and friends in the building, and the Wild gave him a tribute video in the first period.
"When you're out that long, you're hoping that you can kind of get into the rhythm of the game," he said. "You're worried more about the game and just getting back into it mentally, physically, your hands, your feet, everything. So it's unfortunate that it happened that way, especially after being out for so long."
It's a good thing that the Wild got the tribute video out of the way early, because Zucker's night ended midway through the second period. Zucker was going to play a puck along the boards when Minnesota's Kevin Fiala gave him an unexpected shove from behind, sending Zucker dangerously into the boards. Zucker stayed down on the ice grasping at his upper thigh/groin area before being helped off the ice, putting no weight onto his right leg:
Zucker was asked if he had an issue with Fiala's shove, and his response was "I have no comment."
With it appearing to be a groin injury, the initial concern is that the injury was to the same area that he just had surgically repaired.
I'm not a doctor, but in using my Google M.D. degree, core muscle repair surgery is to treat sports hernias. The torn muscle itself could be a groin muscle, or an abdominal muscle. One surgical method involves retracting the groin muscles to access the injured area.
When Zucker was talking about the nature of the injury, it does sound like it was related to the area he had surgically repaired.
"That was probably the one thing that I didn't prepare for in my rehab on ice," he said of the injury. "I mean, that's something that you really can't prepare for. I think that was arguably the only thing. I mean, we can start going down a rabbit hole and find others I'm sure, but that was one of the very few things that I think probably could have re-injured it. So I think that was the toughest part of it."
Zucker said that this is now "the first time that I've been healthy for a long time," and said that he's excited to get back into the lineup, though he doesn't know yet exactly when that will be. It looks like when that moment does come, that he'll be slotted right back alongside Malkin and Rakell, as he was in Minnesota. Though that trio only lasted as a complete line for a period and a half, Zucker's initial impressions of Rakell as a player and how their line fits together were good.
"(Rakell) is a great player," he said. "He's got a lot of skill, he plays a very fluid game, very similar to Geno in that sense. So I'm excited to get some practice reps with those guys and gain some chemistry with them. They're both very dynamic players with crazy skill, and they make some unbelievable plays. I thought (Rakell) was very good in that Minnesota game. It was fun to be out there with them for that for that little while there."
Beyond the second line, both Carter and Sullivan spoke about just the boost Zucker's presence will add once he's back in the lineup.
"He brings a lot to our lineup," Carter said. "Whenever he can get back in there, it'll be a big boost us."
"It gives us it gives us an added jolt of energy," Sullivan added. "Zuck's a veteran guy that I think has a lot of respect of our players and coaching staff and in the room. I think when guys come come back and join the practices, it's a boost for our group. ... It helps our mindset, gives us a boost of energy, and for me that a positive thing that we can build on."
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Brock McGinn was on the ice for his first team practice since his wrist injury on March 11, albeit in a non-contact jersey.
• The Penguins used these lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Evan Rodrigues - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Brian Boyle - Teddy Blueger - Danton Heinen
(McGinn rotated on the fourth line, Radim Zohorna and Anthony Angello did not take rushes)
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Mike Matheson - Chad Ruhwedel
Marcus Pettersson - John Marino
(Mark Friedman rotated)
• The top power play was Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Jake Guentzel and Malkin
• The second power play was Mike Matheson, Carter and Rakell, with Evan Rodrigues, Kasperi Kapanen and Zucker all rotating in the last spot.
• Brian Dumoulin's wife and young son were at practice along the glass. His son was wearing a little Dumoulin jersey and full gear and carrying around a little stick, it was cute. Dumoulin kept going up to the glass before practice to say hi.
