PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It's not likely Evgeni Malkin would be ready for the scheduled game on Friday, but Jake Guentzel could be.
The Pens winger coming back from a broken finger after it was hit by a puck blocking a shot December 6 at Seattle. Guentzel called it a 'little fracture' and said he took the injury in stride. He also said missing practice on Monday was due to a 'one-night illness'. The team already confirmed it was not COVID-19.
At practice in Cranberry Tuesday, the team's leading scorer this year worked on what would be a normal top line with Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust.
"I thought he looked really good in practice today," said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. "He feels a lot better. His status is day-to-day right now, but certainly we were encouraged with what we saw out there today."
"We were gaining some chemistry and traction," Guentzel said. "We know we have chemistry together and we know when we are all playing well we can be a really good line in this league. We have to get that mindset back that we are a good line & have fun with it."
"They've been a very good line for us for a long time," Sullivan said. "They've played a lot of minutes together and they play together for a reason, they have chemistry. They are a very good line and they each bring something different to the table."
"They are all very good players. They have been such an impact line for us for so long and that's what they are capable of. We are anxious and looking forward to getting the three of them in the lineup together."
Each worked on the top power play unit on Tuesday along with forward Jeff Carter and defenseman Kris Letang.
Here were the line combinations Tuesday (per Pens Inside Scoop):
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese-Drew O'Connor-Brock McGinn
Evgeni Malkin-Brian Boyle-Sam Lafferty
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Chad Ruhwedel
Juuso Riikola-Mark Friedman
Malkin would be the most expensive and most accomplished fourth line winger in NHL history. The veteran is still working his way back and likely would not be ready on Friday.
Defenseman PO Joseph called up on Tuesday and tested positive for COVID-19. He is now on the protocol list.
With all that is going on, the message from Sullivan to his team is to prepare as if they are going to play on Friday regardless of any outside talk.
"Control what we can, no sense getting frustrated over it," Sullivan said of COVID postponements and restrictions. "Let's just deal with it. It starts with your attitude. We are going to get our team ready and practice hard."
"It seems like the whole world is in flux, not just our small hockey world. We are just a microcosm of the pandemic. The league is doing their very best to try and create some semblance of normalcy."
Good luck, we could all use it.
