Penguins Doing Their Best to Deal with Daily Curveballs

The Penguins coaching staff may need to start bringing baseball gloves to the rink each morning with all of the curveballs they've been thrown lately.

"I think we've just grown accustomed to expect it," Mike Sullivan said after Friday's practice at PPG Paints Arena. "And whatever comes our way, we'll try to make the best decisions to continue to accomplish our goals and improve and get better as a team, and to prepare the team for what we're up against in the short term. We'll just have to be ready to adapt."
After having a team day off on Thursday, this morning Jeff Carter was added to the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol List for the second time this season (the veteran forward missed three games from Oct. 23-28 after testing positive and being asymptomatic). That means the Penguins currently have eight players in the protocol.
The team announced on Monday (Dec. 27) that goaltender Tristan Jarry, defensemen John Marino and Mike Matheson, and forwards Teddy Blueger, Dominik Simon, and Evan Rodrigues - who was cleared to rejoin the team today - were added to the list. Defenseman P.O Joseph was added on Tuesday morning (Dec. 28), and winger Kasperi Kapanen was added on Wednesday morning (Dec. 29).
On Wednesday afternoon, the NHL and NHLPA announced that they had agreed to modify the COVID protocol, reducing the isolation period after a positive test from 10 days to five days for fully vaccinated players who
meet the required conditions
.
The day of the positive test is considered Day 0, and 24 hours later is considered Day 1. If the player has no symptoms or their symptoms are resolving, they can exit isolation after five 24-hour periods have elapsed since the time of collection of the positive test if they:
- Have a lab-based PCR test that is negative, or a lab-based PCR test that has a CT value >30, or two negative molecular point of care tests collected >2 hours apart
- Medical clearance from the team doctor
- Such exit is permitted by the local health authority (which it is in Allegheny County)
- The player keeps wearing a mask around others for five additional days, other than for practices and games
So while that means there is a chance the Penguins could get more players removed from the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol List and cleared to rejoin the group ahead of their next game, set for Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena, they truly can't get ahead of themselves. The phrase 'taking things day by day' has never been more applicable than in this situation.
"So much of this is just out of everybody's control," Sullivan said. "I don't think we're unique in the sense that we're not the only team that's dealing with these challenges, and we're not the only sport that's dealing with these challenges. So we'll just roll with it, and we'll make the best decisions we can for the team."
Sullivan said that the team is conducting themselves like Sunday's matchup with San Jose will go ahead as scheduled. It will be their first one since Dec. 19, a 3-2 win in New Jersey that was Pittsburgh's seventh victory in a row. Since then, the Penguins have had five games postponed, along with a three-day holiday break from Dec. 23-25.
"I know one thing, our guys are excited to play in a game," Sullivan said.
The coaching staff has been doing their best to get the guys 5-on-5 scrimmage time during practices, with one more scheduled for Saturday morning at PPG Paints Arena. And when that isn't logistically possible, they've created competitive environments with small area games and drills.
It helps that the Penguins have been able to
create a temporary taxi squad
, with those players permitted to travel and practice with the NHL club. Forwards Anthony Angello and Radim Zohorna
were recalled today
, joining forward Kasper Bjorkqvist, defenseman Juuso Riikola and goalie Louis Domingue
on the taxi squad
.
"Given the circumstances that we've been in lately, we're trying to prepare the team in the practice environment, and it has been a challenge because of some of the unexpected COVID cases that we get," Sullivan said. "All of a sudden, we're practicing with less guys than we had anticipated. So part of utilizing that taxi squad is in anticipation of some of these unforeseen challenges that may come our way. It also gives these guys a great opportunity to practice with the NHL guys."
Here is the workflow the Penguins used, while noting that Evgeni Malkin (knee surgery)
will not be available for Sunday
and that Jake Guentzel (upper-body, five games missed) and Bryan Rust (lower-body, 11 games missed) will be game-time decisions.
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Heinen-Malkin-Rodrigues
Aston-Reese-O'Connor-McGinn
Bjorkqvist-Boyle-Lafferty (Angello rotated in)
The defensemen rotated.
PP1) Letang, Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, Rust
PP2) Pettersson, Riikola, Rodrigues, Heinen, Angello
Sullivan said that the Penguins will potentially have situations where they may need to put a player like Bjorkqvist, who is looking to make his NHL debut, or Angello, who is looking to make his season debut, into the lineup. If that happens, those guys will be prepared.
"I always live in the moment and take it day by day," Angello said. "You never know what you're going to have tomorrow, but today I know where I am. I am going to prepare like I'll play on Sunday and if I get that opportunity, I'll make sure I'm ready for it."