PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Some encouraging injury news for the Pens after practice Wednesday, following consecutive blowout losses.
Defenseman John Marino left the game early on Tuesday, but is not listed as having an injury. Rather the 23- year-old defenseman had a maintenance day or hockey term for day off.
Teddy Blueger skated today in a full capacity with full contact. He has not yet been cleared to play, so his status remains the same. Pens head coach Mike Sullivan called it encouraging that he remains a full practice participant.
Evgeni Malkin skated today for the first time since his rehab started. Brandon Tanev and Kasperi Kapanen did not skate today.
No bag skate
Back in the day, you might follow-up a game like Tuesday night or back-to-back games, adding in Sunday in Boston, with a bag skate. Meaning you put the pucks away and skate until you drop as a punishment. Think about the scene from ‘Miracle’ when the USA Hockey team skated sprint after sprint following a loss.
Sullivan said he doesn’t believe in that because all, including the coaches, share responsibility. He prefers to find ways to hold players accountable, yet tries to inspire people to be their best. Add to that this crazy, condensed schedule.
“Logistically it’s tough today just because of the schedule we have,” Sullivan said. “We are in the middle of four games in six nights, three games in four nights. We got a back-to-back coming up.”
“Just physically we have to make sure we give these guys the opportunity to rest and recover. Today was more about an act of recovery on the ice than it was to try and get better in certain aspects.”
It’s not that they didn’t discuss the defensive lapses from the last couple of games. They tried to do so off the ice.
“What we did do was had a film session that addressed some of the issues that we felt as a coaching staff were important to raise to the attention of our players to play the game that gives us the best chance to win,” Sullivan said.
Up Next
Pens play game two at the Rangers Thursday night at 7p. Followed by a game Friday night at the Devils.