1. Sheahan practices
Center Riley Sheahan returned to full team practice today. It was his first time out with the team during training camp due to a lingering lower-body injury.
"I'm feeling better," he said. "(The injury is) just something to stay on top of. I've been feeling strong in practice."
Sheahan, who will see his first game action in Wednesday night's preseason contest against Buffalo at PPG Paints Arena, feels that his conditioning is strong despite every missing camp practice until Tuesday.
"I've been skating by myself," he said. "It's almost harder skating by yourself because you're the only one out there. You don't get the proper rest. I feel good.
"I've been doing a lot with our strength trainers. I've been staying on top of things. I feel good out there and I don't think (my conditioning is) something I'm worried about."
2. Lineup
Although head coach Mike Sullivan continually notes that the media shouldn't read too much into the line combinations and defensive pairings the club uses during practice, there were some tweaks today.
Winger Patric Hornqvist was reunited with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel. The trio were electric during the 2018 playoffs where they combined for 53 points (24G-29A) in 12 games.
"I think we have pretty good chemistry," Hornqvist said. "Me and Jake are good to get those pucks down low and create extra space for (Crosby) and then in the neutral zone try to give the puck to 'Sid' and then in the middle get speed. That's what it's all about."
"(Hornqvist) is going to play the same way every night," Crosby said. "He goes to the net hard, plays with a lot of energy and he makes it tough on other teams. I think you realize pretty quickly if you get the puck to the net a lot of times he's going to be there."
Veteran Matt Cullen moved from center to wing, where he worked with Sheahan and Daniel Sprong. Cullen doesn't mind transitioning to the wing.
"A lot of us expect to play a little bit of both," Cullen said. "I've played a lot of (wing) over the last couple of years so I'm comfortable."
There are many benefits to having two centers playing on a line, particularly for the defensive aspects of the game.
"When you're the first guy back in the zone and you have two centermen out there I think from a defensive standpoint you have an advantage," Sheahan said. "I think having another guy out there who can win the draw helps a lot."
3. Workflow
The Pens used the following workflow at practice…
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Simon-Brassard-Rust
Cullen-Sheahan-Sprong
Aston-Reese-Grant-Dea
Dumoulin-Letang
Maatta-Johnson
Oleksiak-Schultz
Riikola-Ruhwedel
(Trotman)
