NEW YORK -- Ryan Poehling had a big smile across his face in the locker room Thursday following the Penguins' morning skate here at Madison Square Garden ahead of their 7:08 p.m. matchup with the Rangers.
Poehling -- finally -- is healthy and will make his return to the lineup Thursday night.
Poehling skated on the left side of the Penguins' fourth line in the morning skate, replacing Danton Heinen on a line with Jeff Carter and Josh Archibald.
"It's exciting," Poehling said. "It's been a long time, so I'm just looking forward to getting back on track. We have 15 games left in the season to get back into it and feel good come playoff time. ... I'm fired up. When you're hurt it makes you realize how much you miss playing hockey. For me I didn't have a timetable or anything like that, but now that I'm playing I'm looking forward to tonight."
Poehling first left a game with an upper-body injury way back on Dec. 20, but he told me afterward that he wasn't injured in that game -- it had been something that had been nagging him all month, starting around the Penguins' Dec. 1 game in Vegas. He has since been in and out of the lineup several times. He missed three games near the end of December, then returned for one game before being sidelined again for three weeks. He returned on Jan. 22, then played seven games before being shut down again after the game on Feb. 11, the last time he played. Poehling looked to be nearing a return in Nashville at the end of February, but took a "step back" after a full-contact morning skate.
It's been a tough road back for Poehling, but he's finally feeling good again. He doesn't envision this being a difficult transition back into game action for him after the way his rehab process has gone.
"I think that these last two and three weeks in particular, I took some time to really get back into it in the weight room and on the ice," Poehling told me. "With our schedule, it's nice that we have four or five guys skating with the guys who aren't playing to help us out, get in shape. I'm as ready as I can be."
With Jan Rutta and Jeff Petry both available for the Penguins tonight after leaving Tuesday's game with injuries, the Penguins putting Dmitry Kulikov on long-term injured reserve Wednesday wasn't to free up cap space to recall a defenseman like initially thought. No defenseman was needed -- it was the cap space needed to activate Poehling without making any other moves.
With Heinen looking like the one who draws out of the lineup Thursday as a healthy scratch, the Penguins are back to having an extra forward, ending the "emergency" situation that necessitated Alex Nylander's recall. The Penguins on Thursday converted Nylander's emergency recall to a standard recall, allowing him to remain on the roster for as long as the Penguins have cap space from Kulikov being on long-term injured reserve. Kulikov can't come off of long-term injured reserve until April 6 at the earliest, after which there is only one week left in the regular season. There is no salary cap in the playoffs.
The addition of Poehling should be a boost to the Penguins' fourth line with Carter and Archibald. Poehling has the third-highest rate of penalties drawn on the active roster with 1.3 per 60 minutes of ice time, trailing Jake Guentzel (1.33) and Archibald (1.97). His average of 7.06 hits per 60 minutes ranks fifth among forwards on the active roster. With the exception of the injured Nick Bonino, no Penguins forward blocks shots at a higher rate than Poehling's 3.75 per 60 minutes. As of Feb. 23, Poehling has clocked the top speed in the entire NHL this season at 24.32 miles per hour.
"You guys know what he brings, he's a talented guy," Mike Sullivan said of Poehling's impact. "He brings a lot of speed, size, reach. He's good on the penalty kill, can play center, can play the wing, just a versatile player. He's a smart player, he's a cerebral player. He plays conscientious defensively, I think that's an important aspect of his game. But he's got an offensive dimension as well, he's good on the forecheck. He brings a ton of speed, he can really skate. That's an important aspect of something that he brings to our group."
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• Petry and Rutta are both good to go after leaving Tuesday's game early. It's not clear how Petry had been injured in that game, but he said Thursday that he was just hurt and didn't "feel like it was right." Rutta, who left after taking a puck to the knee, said the puck hit him in a "bad spot" where there was no padding.
• Tristan Jarry will start, a bit of an interesting decision. Sullivan has said on a number of occasions that Jarry just needs more practice reps to get back to his usual form, and the Penguins cancelled practice Wednesday. It was then Casey DeSmith getting the bulk of the work in the morning skate. With Jarry getting pulled in three of his last nine games and DeSmith playing some of his best hockey as of late, it's not an easy call for Sullivan to make. Yes, these games are important, but there's also only so much time left in the regular season to get Jarry the games needed to feel strong heading into the playoffs.
"At the end of the day, we think we have two real capable guys," Sullivan said. "We're trying to make the best decisions for the team, both in the short term and in the big picture. Jars, when he's at his best, in my mind he's one of the best in the league. Our challenge is to help him get there. We don't think he's far off. We think he's close. We're going to continue to work with him."
• The Penguins used these lines and pairings, with Heinen rotating as an extra defenseman:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Alex Nylander
Drew O'Connor - Mikael Granlund - Rickard Rakell
Ryan Poehling - Jeff Carter - Josh Archibald
Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin - Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph - Jan Rutta
(Chad Ruhwedel, Danton Heinen)
• The top power play was Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, Guentzel
• The second power play was Petry, Jason Zucker, Bryan Rust, Mikael Granlund, Jeff Carter.
