The Penguins have a lot of work to get done before the 2016-17 season opener on Thursday against the Washington Capitals at PPG Paints Arena.
-
Sidney Crosby
skated prior to the team's afternoon practice on Tuesday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, one day after the captain was diagnosed with a concussion by the team's medical staff. Crosby spoke to the media afterward. Sam Kasan
has the full story
.
Pens Report: 10.11.16
By
Bryanna McDermott / Pittsburgh Penguins
- Bryan Rust (undisclosed) skated with Crosby on Tuesday, and Sullivan gave an update on both him and injured goaltender Matt Murray (broken hand) after practice, but there is still no timetable on when they will return.
On Rust: "He's been skating on his own for a long time now. We're encouraged with his progress. The next step obviously will be when he joins the team, but he's making progress."
On Murray: "Matt is tracking how we expected. Certainly we're encouraged with Matt's progress as well, and we'll go from there."
- The lines remained the same as Monday. They looked like this…
Sheary-Cullen-Hornqvist
Kunitz-Malkin-Wilson
Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel
Sestito-Fehr-Kuhnhackl
Dumoulin-Letang
Maatta-Daley
Cole-Schultz
Pouliot-Warsofsky
- Matt Cullen has been filling in at center between Conor Sheary and Patric Hornqvist in Crosby's absence.
"You can't replace 'Sid'," Cullen said. "It's that group effort to fill holes and play effectively while he's out. There's nobody that compares to Sid, obviously. Nobody is going in there and saying that I'm filling in for Sidney Crosby. We all have to chip in and we all have to be a little bit better and find a way to get the job done."
- Versatile forward Eric Fehr - who played wing during the playoff run - has moved over to play center on what could be the Pens' fourth line for opening night.
"I'm not going to lie, it's nice when you can get a bit of a comfort level with the position you're at, but in the scheme it's not always easy to do that with injuries and whatever else comes into play," he said. "Whatever position I'm going to be, I'm prepared for it."
-Playing through adversity is not a new concept for this team. With Crosby's status yet to be determined for the season opener, other members of the Pens are looking to step up if need be.
"When Sid doesn't play, everyone takes more power," center Evgeni Malkin said. "Not play 100 percent, but play 110 percent. We know how we can play better with Sid, but we can play better without Sid too. It's our leadership. We have great teammates and a great leadership group here with 'Kuni' and 'Tanger' and myself. We know how to play without Sid."
"It's a little bit tough," Malkin said of hearing about Crosby's concussion. "We know his history. But he skated today, it's a good sign. I hope everything's good, we know how tough Sid is and he loves to play and he loves to be here with his teammates. I hope (he's not out) a long time."
-The Pens acquired netminder Mike Condon off waivers from the Montreal Canadiens and sent Tristan Jarry down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
"We think that it's in Tristan's best interest that he plays," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "As a young goaltender we're ecstatic with the training camp that he had. He came into training camp in extremely good shape, he played extremely well in the opportunities that he's been given. We're thrilled with the progress that he's made. But we also feel that in order for him to continue with his development, it's in his best interest not to sit behind Marc but to actually get into games and play."
