Penguins Practice Updates: 10.18.21
Rust week-to-week; Crosby ruled out; Malkin skates for the first time; Matheson close; Aston-Reese on battling COVID-19
By
Michelle Crechiolo
Penguins Team Reporter
- Rust week-to-week
Bryan Rust did not participate, and Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said afterward that the winger is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
"We'll update you guys on a weekly basis, I guess," Sullivan said. "That probably makes more sense. That's where he's at right now."
Rust was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 14, the night he left in the third period of Pittsburgh's 5-4 overtime loss to Florida. Rust was stood up at the blue line with a clean open-ice hit from Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, went to the Penguins locker room shortly afterward, and has not played since.
"Since I came to Pittsburgh, the mantra has always been the next-guy-up mentality," forward Zach Aston-Reese said. That's on the staff for being able to bring guys like that. No matter who's in the lineup, everybody is capable of playing in this league and having success in this league."
- Crosby will not play Tuesday; Malkin skates for the first time
Sidney Crosby skated with skills and development coach Ty Hennes before practice, and did not join the team session. Sullivan ruled out the Penguins captain for Tuesday's game versus Dallas. His recovery timetable is a minimum of six weeks, which would take him through at least Wednesday.
Crosby was joined this morning by the Penguins' other franchise center. Evgeni Malkin took the ice for the first time since undergoing knee surgery on June 4. He is expected to miss at least the first two months of the season, but today was certainly a big step in his recovery.
"Any time a player goes back on the ice, I think it's significant," Sullivan said. "He was in a tracksuit out there. It's his first step. He's been working extremely hard off the ice going through the rehab process."
- Matheson close
Mike Matheson was a full participant in practice, and could potentially make his season debut on Tuesday against the Stars. The defenseman has been sidelined while dealing with a nagging lower-body injury.
Matheson told both the media and his coach that he felt really good after going through a full team practice and an individual session with Hennes beforehand.
"I spoke to Mike after the practice, just to get his feedback on how he felt. He reiterated to me that he felt really strong," Sullivan said. "And so we'll see how he responds overnight. But we're certainly encouraged."
Matheson admitted that it hasn't been easy to be dealing with an injury at the start of a season for his second straight year in Pittsburgh. He missed eight of the Penguins' first 10 games to begin the 2020-21 campaign after the team acquired him in the offseason from Florida.
"It kind of feels like I've been here before," Matheson said with a wry laugh. "But the team's been playing great and that helps, for sure, to be able to see them doing well. And now hopefully, get back soon and be able to help out."
Matheson used the word 'patience' on more than one occasion - first, when talking about dealing with an injury like this versus one that has more of a definitive timeframe.
"One day it feels really good and you think you're there and kind of start looking at the schedule, what game you can get into," Matheson said. "But then we have a certain amount of days after that one, and maybe it makes more sense to wait another one. But staying patient is the most important thing, because you don't want to come back too early and then set yourself back even further, when you could have just waited one more day and then be good to go."
And when that day does come, Matheson said he'll need to continue to have patience and not try to do too much in his first game back. Both he and Sullivan said simplifying will be a huge key.
"Mike is a guy that has the ability to be dynamic with his skating, his ability to shake a forecheck singlehandedly," Sullivan said. "But having said that, when Mike's at his best, we think he's just taking what the game gives him. It allows him to act on his instincts and the talent that he does bring."
Last season, Matheson was mostly paired with Cody Ceci, who signed with Edmonton as a free agent this summer. When everyone was healthy during training camp, the Penguins split up their young pairing of Marcus Pettersson and John Marino, with Chad Ruhwedel skating with the former and Matheson skating with the latter.
But with Matheson out to start the season, the Penguins reunited Pettersson and Marino, and they've been playing really well - ending up a combined plus-7 in Pittsburgh's 5-2 win over Chicago on Saturday. So the coaches kept them together today, with Matheson skating alongside Chad Ruhwedel and Mark Friedman being the extra.
"After having missed a few games, to come back into the lineup with the priority being an element of simplicity to his game, there's no better guy than to do it with Chad," Sullivan said.
- Workflow
Here are the lines and D-pairs the Penguins used…
Guentzel-Carter-Heinen
Zucker-Rodrigues-Kapanen
Aston-Reese-Blueger-McGinn
O'Connor-Boyle-Simon
(Lafferty)
Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson-Ruhwedel
(Friedman)
PP1) Letang, Rodrigues, Carter, Kapanen, Guentzel
PP2) Matheson, Marino, Heinen/O'Connor, Simon, Zucker
- Aston-Reese: "Getting back has been a process"
It's been a tough road for Aston-Reese since he first confirmed positive for COVID-19 on Sep. 27. He had worked hard this summer and was feeling strong and confident up until that day, but once he got the bad news, everything changed.
"As soon as I found out, all the symptoms hit me," he said. "Kind of felt like I had the flu for five days. Unfortunately, I had some pretty bad symptoms, so I wasn't able to work out for 12 days until I had my heart looked at, because you see some of the players around the league having heart issues. So they just wanted to make sure that I was okay, which I was, thankfully."
Aston-Reese said that getting back into game shape has been a process that's still ongoing. He was able to make his season debut on Saturday, logging six hits in 16:33 of ice time while skating with Blueger and McGinn. Aston-Reese said he felt a bit sluggish after the first period, and that it's been tough for him to get his lungs going, but hopes to feel back to normal sooner rather than later.
"I've been trying to fast-track it a little bit," Aston-Reese said. "They gave me a little bit more time to practice and work out and get everything going, but there's no way to get in game shape other than playing."
