The Penguins got some encouraging progress on the injury front on Thursday morning prior to their 7:08 p.m. game against the Predators at PPG Paints Arena.
Marcus Pettersson, Jan Rutta and Dmitry Kulikov were all back on the ice prior to the morning skate for some individual work with Penguins assistant coach Ty Hennes, an encouraging step forward in their injury rehab.
All three players are sidelined with lower-body injuries. Pettersson and Kulikov are on long-term injured reserve, with Pettersson eligible to return in the last game of the regular season on April 13 in Columbus at the earliest, and Kulikov eligible to return on April 6 against the Wild. Rutta is not on injured reserve and is eligible to return at any time.
Rutta seemed to be the furthest along of the three, and stayed out on the ice with Hennes longer than the others, working on his one-timer with Hennes.
Nick Bonino, the Penguins' only other injured player didn't skate, but he was around the rink and working out. He had a non-contact jersey and equipment laid out in his locker stall, which could have been a sign that he was close to skating or at least a possibility to skate, but worked out off the ice instead. Bonino has been on the ice this week for the first time since suffering a lacerated kidney on March 9, but it was a lighter skate without full gear. He's on long-term injured reserve and is eligible to return April 4 in New Jersey at the earliest.
It's encouraging news for all four of the Penguins' injured players. That's especially true for Kulikov, who seemed to be the furthest away from skating, let alone a return. He was wearing a boot on his foot as recently as Saturday.
Tuesday morning in Detroit I asked Mike Sullivan if he anticipates getting Rutta, Kulikov and Pettersson back before the end of the regular season (he already said weeks ago that he anticipates Bonino being back before the end of the regular season).
"Our hope that we'll get them back, yes," Sullivan told me. "They're all making progress. None of them have traveled with us, they're all back in Pittsburgh right now. But they're going through their respective rehab processes. Our hope is is these guys will get closer as we start to approach the end of the season. The runway is short right now, so there's not a lot of time left."
Thursday's developments were a big step forward in that progress.
SKATE REPORT
• Tristan Jarry will start in net. It'll be his 200th career game with the Penguins, surpassing Matt Murray (199 games) for the fifth-most games by a goaltender in franchise history. The top four are Marc-Andre Fleury (691), Tom Barrasso (460), Denis Herron (290) and Ken Wregget (212).
• All healthy players participated in the morning skate.
• Rickard Rakell was moved back up to the second line and Mikael Granlund was bumped back down to the third line. Brian Dumoulin was also moved up to the first defense pairing with P.O Joseph being moved down to the second pairing, a change made in the second period Tuesday in Detroit:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Danton Heinen - Ryan Poehling - Mikael Granlund
Drew O’Connor - Jeff Carter - Josh Archibald
(Alex Nylander)
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
P.O Joseph - Jeff Petry
Mark Friedman - Chad Ruhwedel
• The top power play unit was Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel and Rakell.
• The second power play unit was Jeff Petry, Jason Zucker, Bryan Rust, Jeff Carter and Granlund.
• It's Granlund's first game against his former Predators since being acquired by the Penguins prior to the trade deadline.
"It's always a little weird and all that," Granlund said of going up against his former team. "But at the same time you just go out there and play hockey and try to do your best out there. That's pretty much the mindset there."
• Crosby on the intensity level needed tonight: "I think just understanding how we need to play. I think we've seen when we're more desperate and play with some urgency, we're a much better team. Finding that level of urgency is important. That's what we'll have to do. You know, some nights it goes that way. We found our way back into the game. But it wasn't enough. You got to put a full game together here today."
• In light of Pittsburgh's own Logan Cooley being named a Hobey Baker finalist, Sullivan was asked about the growth he's seen in Pittsburgh hockey during his time in Pittsburgh, and had a really long, passionate answer. It's worth printing in full:
"I think it's been a great evolution. And I think it just speaks volumes for the impact that an NHL team, and in particular, some players on that team can have on igniting a certain passion for the sport in the next generation. You know, when you look at what's evolved here in Pittsburgh since Mario (Lemieux), there's been a number of different players that have worn the jersey that I think have inspired a generation of young players to want to play the game. That's the impact that I think an NHL team and NHL players can have on their respective communities. The Penguins as an organization have done a terrific job in investing in the community and investing in the grassroots initiatives to provide the resources and things of that nature. Our facility is a perfect example of it and trying to foster growth and development in the sport. I think the byproduct of it is someone like Logan Cooley that emerges as an elite player in the game. But I think it goes well beyond that. I think it's great when players can emerge at elite levels like a Logan Cooley, but I also think it's an unbelievable opportunity for young players to play a game that we all love. Whether they play in high school or college or the pros or whether they just have a great hockey experience, these kids will be lifelong hockey fans. These are the guys that end up in the men's leagues at 11 o'clock at night. For me, that is every bit as important to celebrate. But certainly to have an elite player like Logan Cooley emerge through the grassroots initiativesin Pittsburgh, I just think speaks volumes for how far that grassroots initiative has grown and developed. There's been a lot of people that have been responsible for that -- volunteers and coaches and people that put their time in behind the scenes. But the Penguins and the impact that the Penguins have had on the community I think it is an important aspect of it, in particular the players themselves. These guys, they inspire people with how they play. Like I said, it started with Mario but it didn't just end there. There was (Jaromir) Jagr and Kevin Stevens and now it's Sid, Geno and Tanger, and Marc-Andre Fleury. You can go down the list as far as the the types of players that have played in Pittsburgh and just the impact that they can have on their community."
• I've been working on a larger story on Letang for his 1,000th game on Sunday against the Flyers, and I've been asking a lot of his teammates about him for it. Funny exchange today when I was speaking with Rust:
Me: “Kris Letang, with his 1,000th game coming up-“
Rust, interrupting: “There’s ANOTHER big game coming up Sunday, too. It’s somebody’s 500th game too.”
Me: “… is it yours?”
Rust: “Yeah."
• Fun mood in the locker room after the skate. Malkin was waddling around at one point making fun of the way he said Zucker skates. Mark Friedman was also repeatedly (and loudly) calling Drew O'Connor "Drew McDavid" after his showing in the skate.
• Big news elsewhere with Owen Pickering officially being re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre this morning. More on that here. In case you missed it in Tuesday's In the System, I wrote that I was told this was likely, given Swift Current's failure to make the WHL playoffs.
• Speaking of top prospects and Wilkes-Barre ... some good stuff in this feature after I spoke with Joel Blomqvist earlier this week.
