CRANBERRY — Despite Dan Muse demurring at the thought of practice groups giving an indication of his thought process or foreshadowing Pittsburgh Penguins roster decisions, with one week remaining in training camp, a few things are becoming clear based on practice Sunday at the UPMC Lemieux Complex.
What was billed as a two-squad scrimmage was in reality a special teams battle, but Muse didn’t protect his star players. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Erik Karlsson spent some time shorthanded in the controlled an hour-long scrimmage.
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Malkin scored a shorthanded goal after Crosby’s forecheck.
After a couple of weeks of the high-energy, high-intensity training camp that was built more on competition than systems, Muse began to dial in the special teams for the first time.
The first power play unit was built on the Penguins’ foundation and is the top four forwards and the organization’s long-time power play QB.
PP1: Kris Letang, Crosby, Malkin, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell.
That configuration may cause a few Penguins fans’ consternation as both Letang and Malkin had to be removed from the top power play last season (and for parts of the season prior). Muse used the top of the Penguins lineup as a starting point,
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“I wouldn’t put anything in stone right now. You know, this is the first real practice of going through special teams,” Muse said. “We’ll definitely get a look at things like chemistry that’s been there in the past (and) guys that have worked together. I do think that it’s an element that should be considered. And so it was a starting point today.”
The second power play unit, at least for today, was big on the beefy bodies with a little bit of Scandinavian talent. Between wingers Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau, that’s nearly 11 feet and over 400 pounds of hockey player.
PP2: Karlsson, Ville Koivunen, Tommy Novak, Brazeau, Mantha.
Last season, Brazeau spent some time on the Boston Bruins’ second power play unit and had the best output of his career with 10 goals and 10 assists in 50 games before Boston traded him to Minnesota.
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Top Six PK?
As the architect of the New York Rangers’ penalty kill, Muse was not averse to using his top-six forwards while shorthanded. Those are harder minutes and have an increased risk of injuries or at least bruises, but Muse is at least toying with the idea.
Sunday, Rust and Rakell were regular penalty killers in the scrimmage. And, just for fun, Crosby and Malkin also joined a couple of PKs, and Malkin blasted a loose puck for a shorthanded goal.
“Investigation, for sure. I think it’s a mix. You can make an argument on both sides of it. It’s just finding the right fits. There is something (to it). You want everybody as much as possible when you can,” Muse said. “You like to have different players have different roles and responsibilities that they take pride in. That’s important … You know, there are some times these guys that are on a power play that can be very good penalty killers because they think like they think like power-play guys. They know how to anticipate, how to make those reads. And so right now it’s something we’re looking at, too. We’re trying different things. This is the time to try those things.”
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Penguins Injury Updates
Young Penguins winger Rutger McGroarty has not yet participated in training camp. Before the start of camp, general manager Kyle Dubas announced he suffered an upper-body injury and cited McGroarty’s age (21) as a reason the organization decided rest was the proper path.
McGroarty has been seen around the practice rink in workout gear, but as of Sunday, Muse did not have an update, merely that he’s still working through the process.
Noel Acciari and Joona Koppanen were full participants in practice Sunday.
That was the first time Acciari had been a full participant in a practice. The gritty forward suffered a core muscle injury, and his timeline was to be ready for the end of preseason.
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The Penguins have three preseason games remaining, beginning Monday in Detroit.
The post Penguins Practice: Power Plays, PK Experiment, Injury Updates appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now.
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