3 Things: Practice Notes, Enhanced COVID Protocols and More

Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from the Penguins' Saturday practice at PPG Paints Arena.

1. Practice notes
Defenseman Marcus Pettersson, who has missed the last eight games with an upper-body injury, skated in a full-contact yellow jersey.
"He has not been cleared to play yet, but the fact that he's participating in practice in a full capacity suggests that he's that he's that much closer to return to play," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "We're looking forward to the opportunity to get him back in the lineup. He's a real good player for us. We'll take each day as it comes in. We'll update you guys as we go."
All other expected players were present at practice. The Penguins did not do line rushes, and instead spent much of the practice working on special teams.
They used the following power-play units:
PP1) Letang, Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, Rust
PP2) Marino, Matheson, Kapanen, Jankowski, Zucker
2. Home cookin'
The Penguins practiced at PPG Paints Arena instead of UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex because of how long it has been since they last played here. Sunday's game against Washington will mark Pittsburgh's first game back in their own barn since Jan. 25 against NY Rangers, making it exactly three weeks between home contests.
"The main reason why we skated here today is because we haven't played here in a while," Sullivan said. "We thought it would be good for our guys to skate in the game rink, but also to have our team on the ice so we could get an ice cut and the quality of the ice should improve for tomorrow."
It will be the first of four straight home games, and while the Penguins are happy to be sleeping in their own beds and playing in an environment they're comfortable in, ultimately they're grateful just to be playing at all.
"It's nice to be back," John Marino said. "It feels like it's been a while. But it's just crazy with some of the teams not being able to play. We've been lucky so far, so as long as we're playing, I don't think anyone is complaining."
3. Enhanced COVID protocols
Going off of what Marino said, in an effort to reduce the amount of COVID-19 cases throughout the league,
the NHL recently enhanced their protocols with several new safety measures
.
All players, coaches, training staff, equipment staff and other members of each club's traveling party are now required to remain at home and not leave their residence except to attend practices and games, to exercise outdoors on an individual basis, to perform essential activities (e.g., go to the doctor), or to deal with family or other emergencies and other extraordinary circumstances.
"Quite honestly, we've been conducting ourselves this way for a while now," Sullivan said. "We're trying to use common sense and be respectful of the pandemic. I think everybody - at least I can speak for my own personal experience and our team - is trying to use common sense to the best of their ability and mitigate the risk as best we can so we can have a successful season."
Once they are all at the rink for practices and games, the NHL is asking everyone to reduce the amount of time spent in direct interaction with one another. The biggest change is that all team meetings - including coaching meetings and video review sessions - are now required to be conducted virtually. Essentially, coaches can't have contact with the players off the ice.
"It's a big challenge, because I think a big part of coaching is the human interaction and building relationships with these guys," Sullivan said. "But I understand the circumstance we're in. So as far as what we're doing as a coaching staff to try to continue to coach this team, both as individuals and as a group, is we're going to utilize all the technology at our disposal. And we're doing that to this point. And we're also trying to be creative as far as how we how we conduct meetings."

Other measures that had already been in place include players and coaches not being permitted to arrive at the arena more than one hour and 45 minutes before the start of games, and creating additional locker room space for both home and visiting teams in order to allow for six feet of distance between players' stalls.
While the arrival time is certainly a disruption to the players' routines, Jason Zucker said it's a matter of just taking care of the things they need to perform their best earlier in the day.
"For me personally, I've tried to get as much done in the mornings as I can at the morning skates - taping sticks and different things with gear," he said. "Just trying to get all that stuff as ready as I can so that when I get there, I can just focus on warming up and getting ready."
When it comes to being more separated in the locker room, Zucker joked that he doesn't mind needing to have more distance from his teammates, including one in particular.
"It's helped me a lot personally because I'm further away from (Bryan Rust), so I don't have to deal with him as much on a daily basis," Zucker said with a laugh. "That's honestly been the best part. He's miserable to be around in the room (laughs).
"But no, it really hasn't changed much in the locker room. It's one of those things that you know you have to be spaced out and you just kind of have to live with it. It doesn't really affect much throughout the throughout the game. It's something we've just grown accustomed to for this season and we just have to be able to deal with, and it's one of those things we can't really worry about."