After skating on their own this morning, Bryan Rust (lower-body) and Jake Guentzel (upper-body) joined Penguins practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in a non-contact capacity for the first time since suffering their respective injuries.
Guentzel and Rust Practice With No Contact; Tuesday's Game Postponed
By
Michelle Crechiolo
Penguins Team Reporter
And while head coach Mike Sullivan said there was no change from a status standpoint for either forward, who are both listed as week-to-week, the fact that they were on the ice with their teammates was encouraging.
"It's nice to see Jake and Rusty smiling and laughing out there," forward Zach Aston-Reese said. "It's good to see those guys back. Any time a guy goes down, it sucks. But when it's a top-six guy like Rusty or Guentzy, it sucks even more. So it's nice to have them back, and we're looking forward to them coming back and being healthy."
Guentzel had been playing arguably the best hockey of his career before going down after taking a shot off the hand in the first period of Pittsburgh's 6-1 win over Seattle on Dec. 6.
He went right to the Penguins locker room and stayed there briefly before returning for the remainder of the game, where he scored twice to bring his total to a team-leading 15 goals in just 27 games. The 27-year-old winger has been sidelined for the five games since.
This season has been much more of a struggle for Rust, who sustained a lower-body injury in the second game of the season and missed seven in a row from Oct. 16-Nov. 4. Upon returning, he was held without a goal until finally scoring in his 10th game back - and then got hurt in warmups ahead of the next game on Nov. 26 at NY Islanders.
"I feel for him," Sullivan said. "He's a really big part of this team. We're really excited about the opportunity to get him back in our lineup. And the fact that he's on the ice with the team today, I think is just one step closer."
After wearing a regular jersey and taking limited contact in the team's Dec. 18 session, Evgeni Malkin - who has yet to make his season debut after undergoing knee surgery in June - went back to the no-contact jersey he had been wearing since returning to practice on Nov. 29.
Brian Boyle, who has been unavailable for the last two games and is listed as day-to-day with a nagging lower-body injury, also skated in a no-contact jersey. Jason Zucker was the only expected player absent, and Sullivan said he was given a maintenance day.
After practice ended and media availability wrapped up, the NHL announced that that due to COVID-related issues affecting the New Jersey Devils, Tuesday's game in Pittsburgh has been postponed. It would have been the second half of their home-and-home series, as the Penguins extended their win streak to seven games with a 3-2 victory on Sunday at Prudential Center.
A make-up date for tomorrow's contest, which was originally scheduled to be held at 7 PM at PPG Paints Arena, has yet to be established. Tickets will remain valid for that rescheduled date.
Instead, the Penguins will now practice on Tuesday at 11 AM at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. Even before this news came down, Sullivan said it was part of his responsibility to make sure they heighten the awareness to stay on task and do everything within their power to ensure the focus is where it needs to be.
Aston-Reese said the players may have been guilty of getting away from that a little bit last night, which resulted in them not playing their best game. But he said he was a good learning experience for them moving forward, and the coaches are doing a good job of lessening the noise and the distractions as they try to take each day as it comes.
"I think it's just business as usual for us," goaltender Tristan Jarry said. "Obviously there's restrictions every day, and every day is changing, and there's nothing that we can do. It's out of our control. We had different restrictions for the last two years. So I think it's just something that we kind of take in stride and whatever happens, happens."
