3 Things: Rodrigues Out, Workflow and More

Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from the Penguins' Monday practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.

1. Rodrigues update
Forward Evan Rodrigues did not practice after leaving in the second period of Sunday's 4-3 win over the Rangers with a lower-body injury following a collision with forward Filip Chytil, and is out longer-term, according to head coach Mike Sullivan.
Rodrigues joins Marcus Pettersson (upper-body, week-to-week), Mike Matheson (upper-body, longer-term) and Juuso Riikola (upper-body, longer-term) on the Penguins' injury list.
Forwards Sam Lafferty and Drew O'Connor - who have been practicing on the taxi squad - skated with the main group, as did defenseman Kevin Czuczman. All other expected players were present.
2. O'Connor, Lafferty talk opportunity
With Rodrigues out, it's likely that O'Connor or Lafferty will enter the lineup for the Penguins' next game on Tuesday in Boston.
O'Connor, 22, is looking to make his NHL debut. He is in his first season of professional hockey after signing a two-year contract with the Penguins in March as a highly sought-after college free agent out of Dartmouth.
"We'll see what happens, but it's definitely an exciting thought to think about, eventually playing in a game," O'Connor said. "So, we'll see how it goes on this trip. I'm sure there'll be a little bit of nerves if that does happen, but definitely excitement."
As Sullivan has repeatedly said, the Penguins' hockey operations department did their homework on O'Connor and
pursued him hard
. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound forward has not disappointed since reporting to Pittsburgh for training camp, as the Penguins thought he performed extremely well both there and in his skates with the taxi squad.
It's earned O'Connor some practices with the main group, and hopefully a spot in the lineup at some point in the near future.
"Obviously my goal was to come in and be able to be a player that's in the lineup on the Penguins this year," he said. "So, we'll see if that happens, but I think just kind of having that as my goal in the back of my mind, just continuing to work every day, has kind of been my mentality."

Meanwhile, Lafferty, 25, is looking to draw back in after appearing in Pittsburgh's first three games of the season. Sullivan said the biggest thing they've asked him to work on is his consistency so that they know exactly what they are going to get every night, and the coaching staff has used Brandon Tanev's game as an example.
"Tans is a guy that has done a great job at understanding how to leverage his strengths," Sullivan said. "I think Sam has a lot of similar attributes to Tans. He can really skate. He's got a physical dimension to his game. He creates through his foot speed and he can wreak havoc and create chaos out there, and opportunities present themselves through that. We try to define for Sam the type of role that he needs to play in order to have an impact with this team and how to help the Penguins win, and then there needs to be a level of consistency to that."
Lafferty, who appeared in 50 games last year for Pittsburgh as a rookie, feels that he has been making progress in that regard.
"I think I know what I need to do," he said. "I think the blueprint for me is pretty simple. It's just a matter of going out and executing. And to be honest, I feel good about my game. Whenever I get another chance, I feel good about it and like I'm going to go out there and play to my strengths and play my game."
3. Workflow
The Penguins practiced with the same lines they went to in Sunday's game following Rodrigues' injury…
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Zucker-Malkin-Kapanen
McCann-Blueger-Tanev
O'Connor-Jankowski-Sceviour/Lafferty
Dumoulin-Letang (Czuczman rotated in with them)
Marino-Ceci
Joseph-Ruhwedel
They also practiced with the following power-play units:
1) Letang, Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, Rust
2) Marino, Kapanen, Zucker, McCann, O'Connor