The Pittsburgh Penguins held their first full practice in two weeks on Friday.
The Pittsburgh Penguins held a full practice for the first time in two weeks on Friday.
They're finally back from their five-game road trip and are set to play four of their next five games at PPG Paints Arena, including three in a row. They'll play the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, and the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
All healthy players were present for Friday's practice, which ran for about an hour. Defensemen Sam Girard and Ryan Graves were also on the ice and fully participated in the practice.
- Girard has missed the last five games with an undisclosed injury, but looks poised to return to the lineup this weekend after he was paired with Kris Letang on the second pair.
The Girard-Letang pair has played seven games this season and hasn't looked comfortable in any of them. The two have been caught too many times in their own zone, leading to turnovers and goals against.
Maybe head coach Dan Muse sees something in the pair that everyone else doesn't, but the early returns aren't great. Both players need the puck on their stick quite often.
- Here's what the full lines looked like:
Forwards
Rakell-Crosby-Rust
Chinakhov-Novak-Malkin
Mantha-Kindel-Brazeau
Soderblom-Dewar-Acciari
Defensive pairs
Wotherspoon-Karlsson
Girard-Letang
Shea-Clifton
Graves and Solovyov skated on a fourth pair.
- Towards the end of practice, the Penguins once again practiced the shootout, and there were several nice goals scored. Now, that hasn't translated into games this season, but this team practices the shootout at least once a week.
- This is a big weekend for the Penguins, and everyone knows it. It's a chance for them to take care of business and stay in second place in the Metropolitan Division heading into next week.
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