CRANBERRY — Perhaps coaches preplanned, or perhaps it was a necessity. Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Muse had to juggle his lines slightly, though the changes were not so minor for a pair of Penguins rookies.
The Penguins unloaded a news dump before practice, and Pittsburgh Hockey Now was also there to uncover Filip Hallander skating on his own 90 minutes before practice. It is believed that it was the first time Hallander was on the ice since his Nov. 3 absence and subsequent diagnosis with a blood clot that will keep him out until at least February.
As part of the heavy news cycle, the Penguins recalled center Tristan Broz, who has yet to make his NHL debut, and the team assigned 19-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on a 14-day conditioning assignment.
Since Brunicke is 19, the team cannot assign him to the AHL on anything other than the conditioning assignment.
The team also officially assigned Philip Tomasino to the WBS Penguins after he cleared waivers on Nov. 19.
Also at practice, goalie Tristan Jarry appeared to be a full participant. So, too was winger Ville Koivunen, though he was not a regular participant in the line drills.
Koivunen said he was a full participant in practice, but he and Muse confirmed that the team will wait to see how he feels Tuesday.
And Bryan Rust was absent from practice due to illness. Rust was the only absence. PHN will update the story on the entirety of the injured players following practice, if Muse provides specifics.
As Muse constructed the lines, the Penguins’ rookie forwards had new assignments. In Rust’s absence, Muse moved Ben Kindel back to the top line and used Broz as the team’s third line center.
“I’ve gotten really strong reports (on Broz). He had a strong training camp, too. You know, training camp matters. He made a good impression, and he earned that during camp,” said Muse. “He went down to Wilkes-Barre, and he followed it up. He’s making plays. He’s impacting the game offensively. We want him to jump in and continue what he’s doing.”
Given the Penguins’ dearth of depth scoring, or even a typical scoring rate, in November, Muse may choose to keep the same practice roles on Wednesday when the team hosts the St. Louis Blues. Muse could quickly insert Rust into Connor Dewar’s new and temporary spot on the left wing beside Sidney Crosby, with Kindel on the right, or onto Evgeni Malkin’s right wing, allowing Anthony Mantha a move back to left wing.
Penguins Lines
Connor Dewar-Sidney Crosby-Ben Kindel
Kevin Hayes-Evgeni Malkin-Anthony Mantha
Tommy Novak-Tristan Broz-Sam Poulin
Joona Koppanen-Blake Lizotte-Danton Heinen
Extra: Ville Koivunen
Defense
Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-Kris Letang
Ryan Graves-Connor Clifton
Matt Dumba rotated in, but also skated with Koivunen.
Goaltenders: Sergei Murashov, Arturs Silovs, Tristan Jarry.
Practice
As part of Muse’s more than hour-long practice, the team again made full use of both ice sheets at the UMPC Lemieux Complex.
After skills work filled the first 20 minutes, the team worked 3v3 drills and 5v5 line rushes, before vacating Rink 2 for the primary sheet, Rink 1 for short ice competitions in which all three goalies participated.
While some noted that Jarry got more work than rookie Sergei Murashov, Muse explained the reasoning and Jarry’s progress.
“Tristan, definitely, he was able to get a little bit more (work) today, and so that part of the progress we want to be able to see,” Muse said. “I think anytime you have three goalies on the ice, there is a little bit of management with (time), just to make sure your guys are getting enough. And so it was a situation where we wanted to make sure (Jarry) was getting a little bit more than last week.”
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