CRANBERRY TWP (93.7 The Fan) – Pens did a bunch of special teams work Wednesday at practice ahead of a trip to Buffalo and first meeting with the Sabres on Thursday. Defenseman John Marino was absent, but head coach Mike Sullivan said it was just a maintenance day.
Friedman back
Working his way back from an upper-body injury suffered last week in a hit against the Flyers, defenseman Mark Friedman returned to practice.
"I feel good," Friedman said. "It was nice that it was only a week from practicing with the guys."
"Stuff happens. I was on the unlucky side of two plays. It was unique to play against the old guys for my first two games."
The 25-year-old had a goal and an assist in the pair of games he played since being picked up off waivers from Philadelphia.
"It was a real experience against my former team," Friedman said of scoring. "I couldn't have scripted any better I guess. I really didn't know how to celebrate. I'm not going to say shocked, but taken aback by getting my first against my former team."
Letang fitness
In his 15th year in the NHL, defenseman Kris Letang is still top 20 in the league in minutes. Playing 24 minutes, 45 seconds minutes a game, Letang puts in more work than most to make sure he's in the best shape he can possibly be in.
"I train in a way to sustain a heavy load for a long period of time," Letang said. "I try to exercise 7-8 times a week. There are days where I train twice."
"We have a few players on our team that pride themselves on their fitness level and the importance of it as far as giving themselves a competitive advantage," Sullivan said. "Tanger is one of those guys. He takes a lot of pride in it. He's willing to put the time in. He's willing to work extremely hard both on the ice and off the ice to prepare himself to give himself the best chance to be successful for game time."
"It helps us set the standard for the expectation here in Pittsburgh and how we are trying to approach our jobs every day. Tanger is certainly a standard bearer in that regard."
Line combinations
Stayed mostly the same except for Marcus Pettersson with Chad Ruhwedel
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Evan Rodrigues-Evgeni Malkin-Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Brandon Tanev
Colton Sceviour-Mark Jankowski-Anthony Angello
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-Chad Ruhwedel
*Juuso Riikola-Mark Friedman (on a spare line)
