In a season filled with injuries, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan delivered what has to be considered encouraging news when he listed Tristan Jarry as day-to-day, as opposed to the all-too-familiar "longer term" description. Jarry left Monday's win over the Islanders after the first period with an upper body injury.
The other encouraging sign was Branden Tanev skating a regular shift on a third line with Zach Aston-Reese and Freddie Gaudreau. He also worked as a penalty killer as Sullivan gave his power-play units quite a bit of work.
As is his custom, Sullivan wouldn't declare Tanev ready for Thursday's game in Boston but he did indicate that the man known as Turbo will not be eased back into the line-up. Because Tanev's make-up makes that pretty much impossible.
"Well, I just think we throw him in and let him play," Sullivan says, "he hasn't been out too long here and when he is cleared to play I think he's a guy that has to play with a certain reckless abandon. That's what makes him what he is, that's the value that be brings to the team and that's his competitive advantage."
So, if and when Tanev returns, expect Sullivan to turn him loose. "He's one of those that, when he is cleared to play, we'll put him in the line-up and let him do what he does," which is to torment opponents non-stop.
Tanev also gives Sullivan options like, for example, adding some spice to the second line with Jared McCann and Jason Zucker. For now, Evan Rodrigues still holds that spot. The fourth line at Wednesday's practice had Mark Jankowski centering Sam Lafferty and Anthony Angello with Colton Sceviour the odd forward out.
The defensive pairings remain unchanged – Kris Letang/Brian Dumoulin, Mike Matheson/Cody Ceci, Marcus Pettersson/John Marino – except that Letang showed up after the off day sporting a mustache only. Dumoulin will soon be joining his partner after he lost the first-of-the-month "Mustache Boy" shootout competition.
With Casey DeSmith taking over as the number one goalie for the time being, Maxime Lagace is up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. This season in the AHL, the 28-year old Lagace has a 3-2-2 record, 1.98 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.
Legace backed up Marc Andre Fleury in Las Vegas in 2017-18 and 2018-19. In 17 NHL games his record if 6-8-1 with a 3.92 goals against average and a save percentage of .868
The Pens open a 6-game road trip Thursday night against the Bruins, with another game in Boston Saturday afternoon.
