FARMERS BRANCH, Tex. — There was no Evgeni Malkin at the Pittsburgh Penguins practice Saturday, but a couple of the injured players were full go on the lines, and former Penguins defenseman and assistant coach Sergei Gonchar made an appearance.

Malkin was out with a maintenance day, per the team’s announcement before practice began. He was present at the rink and in the locker room during practice.

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Without the second line center, the lines were a little bit jumbled, though perhaps coach Dan Muse was preparing for the possibility of not having Malkin Sunday afternoon when they visit the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Arena.

Rather than a stopgap on the second line, Muse put Kevin Hayes in the middle of Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau. Tommy Novak elevated a line, taking Hayes’s spot beside Sidney Crosby.

And in a sign of one of the things the Penguins need to clean up, Muse integrated practice tracking back on rushes with full line drills.

The top power play also had to replace Malkin for the day, at least. Anthony Mantha jumped to the top unit, and Brazeau rejoined PP2.

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The practice was otherwise uneventful.

Penguins winger Noel Acciari said he felt good after practice, and th evidence was another brisk practice.

“When they call my number, I’ll be ready to go,” he said.

It’s still unclear whether or not Acciari and Brazeau will be available Sunday. Muse said further conversations with the training staff were required, but acknoweldged the were full go and full contact in the 45-minute practice Saturday.

“I still need to have some conversations just with our staff, just to get some more updates. You get a good practice like that–I think it was a practice where (they were) able to get a little bit of bumping in there too,” Muse said. “And so now … there needs to be some conversations before I can get any more updates.”

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It certainly looked as if the players would be ready.

Practice Drills

Among the drills Muse put the team through was some forms tracking back on defense while the attacking forward tried to score.

The Tampa Bay Lightning scrambled the Penguins defense and scheme Thursday in the Penguins 4-3 win.

We first asked defenseman Connor Clifton what it said about the team that they were able to win a game they should have handily lost.

“We had goaltending,” he remarked simply.

But if you’d like a more detailed explanation, Clifton dove deep into the Tampa Bay attack.

“I think I think Tampa specifically, they gave us a lot of trouble just because they have so much speed,” Clifton said. “They send one guy out (to the neutral zone), they try to pull us (defense) back, and then they hit that guy and (who) bumps it back to speed (rushers). And then you got Kucherov and Cirelli flying at you. So they’re really good at it, you know, and they got us. They broke our gaps and we weren’t able to kill plays.”

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There is Superstition?

Many NHL coaches including the last Penguins coach would almost never change the lineup after a win. It didn’t matter if a player had a terrible night or was merely a stopgap measure. Win and you’re in.

However, Muse has tossed that superstition aside. Win or lose, the goaltending platoon remained in tact, and players would come in and out of the lineup regardless of the result.

“Every game is different, every game. I think you take things game to game. Am I totally not superstitious?” Muse said before a big smile emerged. “I don’t know. There’s probably a couple little things there, but no, I think you’ve got to evaluate each game.”

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We’ll ask about his actual superstitions another day.

Penguins Lines

Tommy Novak-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Anthony Mantha-Kevin Hayes-Justin Brazeau

Rutger McGroarty-Ben Kindel-Ville Koivunen

Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari/Boko Imama

Defense

Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea-Kris Letang

Ryan Shea-Matt Dumba/Connor Clifton

Goalies:

Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs.

The post Penguins Practice: Malkin Sits, Injured Players Close; Muse Superstitious? appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now.

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