Inside Scoop: Second Training Camp Scrimmage

Thoughts, musings and observations from the Penguins' second intra-squad scrimmage of their Phase 3 training camp that took place on the FedExRink at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. It consisted of two 25-minute periods that ran nonstop until the last five minutes, which were spent working on special teams.

• Sidney Crosby did not participate. He has not taken the ice since leaving in the second period of Saturday's intra-squad scrimmage. No update was provided per the current NHL Return to Play protocol, which says clubs are not permitted to disclose player injury and/or illness information.

• The team announced today that the nine Penguins players that were held out of training camp as a precaution have been cleared to re-join Phase 3. Those players are Patric Hornqvist, Anthony Angello, Adam Johnson, Samuel Poulin, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Phil Varone, Sam Miletic, Juuso Riikola and Alex D'Orio.

They did not participate in today's scrimmage, instead skating on their own over on the Covestro Innovation Rink.

"We chose to give them an opportunity to get a couple of days of skating amongst themselves first and foremost before they rejoined the group," Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. "Part of the reason was that today was a scheduled inter-squad game. We didn't want to put those guys right into a game with the layoff that they've had. We thought it made the most sense to give them a couple of days of an opportunity to skate and get their legs underneath them before we assimilate them into the big group."

• This was a much more evenly-played scrimmage compared to Saturday's, where Team Black won 7-0. Today's scrimmage ended in a 3-3 tie. Teddy Blueger and Chad Ruhwedel scored for Team Gold, while Evan Rodrigues and Jack Johnson scored for Team Black. In addition, Patrick Marleau scored once for each squad. Goaltenders Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry switched teams for today. Here were the lineups…

Team Black:

Guentzel-Rodrigues-Sheary

Zucker-Malkin-Rust

Dumoulin-Letang

Johnson-Schultz

Murray

Team Gold:

Marleau-McCann-Lafferty

Aston-Reese-Blueger-Tanev

Pettersson-Marino

Czuczman-Ruhwedel

Jarry

• Rodrigues got a big opportunity to center Conor Sheary and Jake Guentzel in Crosby's absence, and he certainly made the most of it.

The 26-year-old forward wasted no time in making an impact, scoring early in the game when he took a feed from Guentzel as he skated into the slot, quickly deking to his backhand and lifting a shot over the diving Tristan Jarry. That was one of a few scoring chances that Rodrigues had throughout the course of the game. I was really impressed with how he used some nifty stickhandling to get himself time and space.

Sullivan said one of the reasons they put Rodrigues with Sheary and Guentzel today was to give him some reps at the center position in the event that they may need him there moving forward.

"We can plug him into so many different types of roles. You can see today, he played in Sid's spot with Conor and Jake and he has great offensive instincts," Sullivan said. "He made plays with those guys. He has the ability to play center or play either wing. We can use him on the penalty kill. If we had to, I think we could use him on the power play. To have guys that are part of our team that have an ability to play multiple positions I think is invaluable for our team overall. I think we're seeing it play out here in some of our inter-squads."

Before Guentzel got to the NHL, he was known more as a playmaker than a goal-scorer. And one big takeaway I had from watching today's scrimmage is that Guentzel's playmaking abilities are as strong as ever. That pass to Rodrigues was one of many terrific passes he made throughout the course of the game to set his teammates up for scoring opportunities.

• Sam Lafferty had another strong performance in today's scrimmage, skating on a line with Patrick Marleau and Jared McCann after spending Saturday's scrimmage as an extra forward. Lafferty did a good job of using his speed to push defenders back and create space for his linemates.

"He's playing the game hard out there," Sullivan said. "He's another one of those players that brings a certain level of versatility to his game that allows us to move them around the lineup. He's forcing guys that he's playing against to have to bring their best. I think that internal push is going to help us get ready for what we have in front of us and helps keep us all at our best."

Overall, I really liked how that line looked today. Marleau and McCann were both a lot more noticeable compared to Friday. McCann was shooting the puck more, particularly on the power play, which is one of the biggest reasons he's seeing time there.

• Another line that stood out today was the trio of Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev. When that line is at their best, they are supporting each other all over the ice and being hard to play against in every aspect. They want to get in on the forecheck, maintain pressure and set up the next line for an opportunity to score.

That's exactly what they did against Evgeni Malkin's line, with Blueger pouncing on a neutral-zone turnover that started a lengthy offensive-zone shift complete with some good looks on Murray. On the next shift, Marleau scored.

They also want to make the most of their own chances offensively, which Blueger did after converting a 2-on-1 with Tanev.

• I've been really impressed with Johnson during these first couple of scrimmages. The 33-year-old defenseman was really noticeable from a physicality aspect in the first game, hitting Lafferty with a hard check as he reached for a puck and sending Tanev flying behind his own net, and he provided more of the same today.

"I think just knowing that you're going to go right into it and you don't have a preseason schedule and half a dozen games to kind of ramp up, just having that mindset going in helps you hit the ground running from Day 1," Johnson said. "Knowing that you don't really have a whole lot of time and you go into do-or-die pretty quick, I think everyone knowing that has made the practices pretty intense. They've been a good pace and intensity and we're battling with a good amount of respect for each other. In today's scrimmage there was a higher battle level than there was in the first one and I think that will just naturally keep ramping up as we go because we see the days ticking away until we get to the real thing."

I've also liked Johnson's decision-making when it comes to joining the rush and holding onto pucks. On his goal, he recognized an opportunity to follow up the play and ended up getting a pass on a silver platter from Malkin. Then another time, Johnson was under pressure while regrouping at the blue line, so he made a nice spin-o-rama escape move to get into open ice. It was a nifty move that had his teammates hooting and hollering.