Penguins Notebook: Brazeau Returns To Team's On-Ice Practice; Injury Updates; High-Energy Session

A day after the Pittsburgh Penguins won their second straight game in the form of a thrilling, comeback 3-2 OT win over the Nashville Predators, the team began a string of practice days to fill the gaps until Thursday, when they next take to home ice against the Utah Mammoth. 

And it appears that there may be some great benefit from a few days off. 

On Sunday, the Penguins held a split practice, with some players on the ice, some in the gym, and some doing off-ice recovery exercises. Among those in the on-ice group were Justin Brazeau, Egor Chinakhov, and Evgeni Malkin, all of whom did not play Saturday for various reasons and all of whom were full participants in practice. 

In addition, defenseman Sam Girard - placed on injured reserve Saturday - skated on the injured ice in a separate workout. 

Brazeau, who is currently on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, has yet to play a game this season for the Penguins. He was injured during the preseason when he took an awkward fall into the boards, but he is ready and itching to get back. 

"Feeling a lot better," Brazeau said. "Obviously, it's a tough way to start a year. I mean, it kind of feels like I'm still in the summer a little bit. But, feeling good, just taking it day-by-day and seeing how it's doing." 

He added: "It's tough. I thought I had a good summer. You know, I was gearing up and ready to go, and it's tough to have that pause. But, I mean, stuff happens. This game is so fast. You can't really worry about that. Just looking to get myself ready to go here."

With a healthy lineup, it will be interesting to see where Brazeau fits into everything. Obviously, the Penguins are nowhere close to healthy as is, but it is a crowded roster of forwards, so there are no guarantees that his role will be the same as last year's.

But Muse sees Brazeau's situation as similar to everyone else's in that evolution and adaptation are always part of the equation. 

"I think that there's room for growth for everybody," Muse said. "Everybody can continue to take steps. I think that's the way we approach it with everybody here."

Other notes from Sunday's practice:

- Chinakhov (day-to-day, lower-body) and Malkin (day-to-day, illness), like Brazeau, fully participated in the on-ice practice, and Geno - like his true self - still refused to do push-ups when his team lost a drilll and simply bent his knees a few times instead. 

They looked pretty comfortable out there. That said, the guys who were called up to fill in - Avery Hayes, Rutger McGroarty, and Chase Pietila - were all still present and fully participating in practice. 

- There is still no official change on center Ben Kindel's status, and he didn't participate in the on-ice portion of practice with the others. Penguins' GM and POHO Kyle Dubas said Thursday that they were "hopeful" Kindel would be able to return to the ice Sunday or Tuesday (when the team next practices) after it was clarified that he had a vasovagal episode on the team plane Tuesday in Utah that caused him to briefly be hospitalized in Salt Lake City before returning to Pittsburgh on Wednesday. 

Muse said they're going to reevaluate everything and make decisions regarding Kindel as they resume practicing on Tuesday.

- In general, it was a very high-energy and high-spirited practice for the Penguins with smiles abound. That tends to happen when the team is winning, but it was certainly a refreshing thing to see given the more solemn mood a few days ago. 

After the battle drills at the end of practice, Brazeau and McGroarty even had a tiny little "tussle" at center ice. No actual punches were thrown, but jerseys were held, arms were waved, and laughs were had. 

Malkin, as usual, celebrated his team's victory to the nines. 

Oh, and the Penguins wore their blue pants and blue helmets again. Just in case you weren't aware of the tease for their Hometown Remix jerseys.

- Perhaps one of the reasons for the extra-positive mood was that the Penguins held a family Halloween skate and "trick-or-treat" party after practice.

The highlight was during the media scrum with Muse, when Nick Bonino's daughter snuck in near the end. She was able to ask the final question, and it was a hard-hitting one for the Penguins' head coach. 

"What's your favorite candy?" she asked. 

Muse took a few seconds to think about it, peeked into her trick-or-treat bucket to jog his mind, and finally replied, "Snickers."

Bonino's daughter kindly offered Muse one of her Snickers bars and said there was plenty, but he politely refused and said he would peruse the candy selection later. 

She may just have a future in this field.

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