ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Brian Dumoulin was next to last. Then, finally, Casey DeSmith squeezed his big pads through the bench door and onto the ice at Honda Center.
All Penguins present, all fully participating at a practice for the first time since ... wow, would anyone believe the 11th of this past December?
And even that occasion didn't survive the day, as Jeff Petry'd go down for weeks with a busted wrist.
"Just like that," as he'd word it for me on this day. "And things were getting good, too."
That was true for Petry and for the entire team, which was within a monthlong tear from Nov. 17-Dec. 20 that brought the NHL's best record, 13-2-1. And since then, it's been 6-7-5.
All kinds of variables beyond injuries have contributed, of course, and I've taken pains to point those out. But I also don't pretend that there's no loss in missing the likes of Petry, Kris Letang, Tristan Jarry, Jan Rutta, Ryan Poehling, Josh Archibald and a handful of others. Particularly those first three in comprising the top two defensemen and starting goaltender.
So yeah, it was kind of neat once they all made it out there on this Thursday morning here, with Jarry and Rutta, both out with upper-body injuries sustained last month, full participants for the first time. It sure sounded as if Jarry won't play here Friday night against the Ducks, nor the next night in Los Angeles against the Kings. But Mike Sullivan, in offering "no timetable," acknowledged after practice that he's getting close. Because Rutta's on long-term injured reserve, he can't return until next Tuesday in San Jose, Calif.
"It's great," Sullivan would say of the perfect attendance. "It's been a struggle here to try to stay healthy the last few months. We're getting some guys back in our lineup, slowly but surely. Hopefully, we can put players in the positions that we envisioned them to be in. I think when we have a healthy lineup, we're a pretty competitive hockey team. And as we get these guys back in the mix, we'll see what we've got. But we're certainly encouraged."
Jarry's missed 11 of the past 13 games to injury, beginning with a lower-body injury Jan. 2. He returned for two starts later in the month, then was right back out again with an injury that, from what I've been told, is to his torso area.
Sullivan described this session as "a controlled environment" for Jarry, referring to a limited amount of work, as he shared time with Dustin Tokarski, the current backup to Casey DeSmith. But Jarry still saw what appeared to be full-tilt shooting from the players coming at him.
"I was in a limited capacity today," Jarry acknowledged afterward, "but it was just good to be out there with the guys. It's tough when you're injured and tough to be away from the team. It's nice, and a step in the right direction, when I'm out with them."
Another such step would be for all concerned, in general, to get back to that Thanksgiving-to-Christmas level. And that goes double for the defending.
Pardon me if this has been preached in this space a time or two, but this team's capable of beating anyone anywhere if/when it's completely committed to pursuing the puck and, if it's acquired, not just giving it right back. And within that, it's infinitely easier -- and smarter and safer -- to open that pursuit from a position that's "on top of the puck," per one of Sullivan's many pet phrases.
What's that mean?
I took that question to resident Sullivan-system scholar Marcus Pettersson and asked him to lay it out like I'm 5 years old.
"You find a way to keep yourself between the puck and your zone, or your net," he began. "It's simple. It's what you think about when you're establishing a priority on the ice. And if you do that, it makes everything about your job easier, including being more aggressive. Because now, you're going right at the opponent without chasing him."
That'll feel more natural for a defenseman than a forward, obviously, so it's the latter that makes the biggest difference.
"If they're on top of the puck, it's easier for us to be on top of the puck," Pettersson continued. "And to make our own good decisions from there."
So I took my next questions on the subject to a forward:
"That's just where we have to be," Jake Guentzel would reply. "That's when we're at our best, when we're not cheating the game, when we're playing the right way. If we're playing on top of the puck all night, playing hard ... we're going to get our looks."
Yeah, there's that, too: Nothing about this priority precludes scoring goals. As Sullivan would tell me later, "We'll score. We'll get goals. We just have to take care of the rest. And part of the frustration of late is that we haven't done that consistently. We're aware of it. But we also know we can do it because we've done it."
Sure have. But for the most part, they've done it only against some of the NHL's top teams.
"Has to be across the board. Against everyone," Petry'd say. "It's just got to be the way we play."
Meaning not a millisecond after the 10:08 p.m. Eastern puck drop against the Ducks. And not at all like the majority of the 50 games to date.
• Lines and pairings were the same as the 2-1 overtime victory over the Avalanche a couple nights ago back home:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen
Ryan Poehling-Teddy Blueger-Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph-Chad Ruhwedel
Danton Heinen and Drew O'Connor rotated through the forwards, Mark Friedman and Rutta through the defensemen.
• Ron Hextall and Brian Burke both attended and watched the practice.
• The session lasted a little longer than an hour and, in lieu of line rushes and other standard fare, this one focused heavily on set configurations, including from a defensive stance.
Which isn't to suggest it wasn't brisk, as this 30-second clip I shot will show:
Not as much noise as usual out there, but maybe that's because it wasn't easy to take a breath.
• Cool to see Sidney Crosby catching up with Ryan Getzlaf, the recently retired Anaheim star, outside the Pittsburgh room. They were Team Canada teammates, of course, in both the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, then again four years later in Sochi, Russia.
• Danny Shirey's with me on the trip. He spent one-on-one time with Letang, and he'll have detail on his recent progress in a new Drive to the Net first thing Friday.
• I'll have a new Point Park University Friday Insider, as well.
• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage.
