CRANBERRY TWP (93.7 The Fan) – Pens got some experience back at practice in Cranberry Thursday.
Defensemen Kris Letang and Mike Matheson, along with forward Zach Aston-Reese went through an entire, relatively long 70-minute practice.
"I felt pretty good today on the ice," Letang said. "I skated earlier on my own and after that I was able to go out with the team."
Letang paired mostly with rookie PO Joseph and it appears those two could be the top line pair Saturday at the Islanders. Matheson with Cody Ceci, his early training camp partner. Aston-Reese worked sparingly on the fourth line. Head coach Mike Sullivan would only say they are day-to-day.
John Marino put on the COVID list yesterday and was not at practice. It's unclear how long he will be out.
The line combinations on the top three remained the same with essentially five rotating in on the fourth line-O'Connor, Jankowski, Lafferty, Sceviour and Aston-Reese.
Defensive pairings
Letang-Joseph (Ruhwedel occasionally)
Matheson-Ceci
Czuczman-Weber
Power Play
Letang-Crosby-Malkin-Rust-Guentzel
Joseph-McCann-O'Connor-Zucker-Kapanen
Kris Letang talks PO
It's not a slam dunk that Letang would return with Joseph on his line, but if it works out that way the veteran likes what he's seen from the rookie.
"I would say its his confidence," Letang said of what has grown in Joseph's game. "Plays with a lot more confidence than before. Offensively, he would get rid of the puck a lot sooner. I think now he has a lot more poise. His confidence with the puck has changed a lot. I think he's making better plays offensively. Out there he looks pretty calm, like a veteran of 10 years. It's going pretty well for us."
Mike Matheson almost 100%
"I feel good," Matheson said. "It's nice to be back practicing with the team. It's always tough being away from the team when you are injured. Especially coming to a new team like this."
"I think my getting close to 100% and that gives me a lot of confidence."
Matheson said he tried to have patience while rehabbing the last couple of weeks and watched the team's games with a keen eye. The lefty shot worked with Cody Ceci in practice. They were a pairing at the start of training camp and played together a few years ago at the World Championships.
"It seemed like there was a while there where there wasn't a game where we didn't lose a defenseman," Matheson said. "That's really tough and not easy to handle. I think everyone has done a great job of stepping up."
ZAR eyeing return
"I feel pretty good," Aston-Reese said. "I've been skating for the last two months. I've put a lot of work in. I don't have any lingering side-effects from surgery. It actually feels better than what it did before."
With fairly solid play so far on the third and fourth lines. How does the fourth year veteran work into a consistent spot in the lineup?
"I've gotten away from it in playoffs and a little bit last year," Aston-Reese said of his recent play. "I think just being able to play a physical two-way game. I've been pretty good defensively, but being able to add offensively is going to help a lot. Just playing physical every night. You see Tans (Tanev) bring it every night. It's something the bottom six needs to bring. I'm hoping to bring that every night."
