CRANBERRY Twp., Pa. — Rickard Rakell centered the Pittsburgh Penguins’ top line Monday, the first day of full practice for the squad since the Olympic break began nearly 20 days ago on Feb. 5.

Rakell was one of the two changes because center Sidney Crosby is en route from the Winter Olympics in Milan after Team Canada fell in overtime Sunday to Team USA in the gold medal game.

Crosby is also nursing a lower-body injury that kept him out of the semifinal and gold medal game. He said he was close to playing Sunday, but Penguins coach Dan Muse said Sunday he had not received further information.

The Noreaster on the East Coast is also reportedly causing travel delays for many of the players, too.

Among the changes was the insertion of rookie winger Avery Hayes, who was recalled Monday morning from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and skated on the top line with Rakell in the middle and Bryan Rust on the right side.

Hayes had two goals against the Buffalo Sabres in the final game before the break. The game and the goals were his firsts in the NHL.

The amalgamated top line alleviated the need for further changes, as Tommy Novak continued to center Egor Chinakhov on the left and Evgeni Malkin on the right, Ben Kindel was the pivot for the towering wingers Justin Brazeau and Anthony Mantha, and the Penguins’ fourth line remained appropriately intact.

For now.

How the lines may change and where space might exist for Hayes remains an unanswered question, perhaps even to Muse.

The defense pairs shifted slightly as Ilya Solovyov moved from third-pair defenseman to odd-man out as Muse opted for three left-right combinations and moved Ryan Shea back to his natural left side.

Shea, 28, struggled on the right side in several games leading up to the Olympic break.

Defenseman Erik Karlsson, who played for Team Sweden, also returned to practice, giving the Penguins a full complement on the blue line. Both Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs have been present over the last two days; Silovs played for Latvia at the Winter Games and returned to the team Sunday.

Penguins Lines

Avery Hayes-Rickard Rakell-Bryan Rust

Egor Chinakhov-Tommy Novak-Evgeni Malkin

Anthony Mantha-Ben Kindel-Justin Brazeau

Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari

Extra: Kevin Hayes

Defense

Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson

Brett Kulak-Kris Letang

Ryan Shea-Connor Clifton

Extras: Ryan Graves-Ilya Solovyov

Goalies: Stuart Skinner, Arturs Silovs

PP1: Karlsson, Malkin, Rakell, Rust, Mantha

PP2: Letang, Chinakhov, Kindel, Novak, Brazeau

Practice

The Penguins practiced for more than one hour on Monday, beginning on Rink 2 at the UPMC Lemieux Complex before moving to their primary Rink 1 after about 45 minutes.

The team did the line rush drills on Rink 2 and 5v5 full-ice game simulation drills on Rink 1. It did not yet appear that general manager Kyle Dubas had returned from Milan, as his office overlooking the rink remained dark.

Hayes Update

After practice, Muse discussed Hayes’s situation with the team and implied that Hayes may not be with the team long, and his station depends on Sidney Crosby’s health.

The team is waiting for Crosby to arrive and get more information from their star center. The organization made the recall Monday so that Hayes could practice with Rakell and Rust, and Muse could get a look at the line.

Muse stopped short of specifically saying Hayes was in Pittsburgh as a Crosby insurance policy, but his statement that the other lines are set essentially did it for him.

“I mean, I think the way that we are right now, in terms of the other lines, there’s something we want to see,” Muse said. “So I think it’s also him coming up right now, too– He’s been playing really well. We’ve got these couple of practice days, and so we’ll wait to get more information once (Crosby) gets back.”

Spurred by his NHL debut, Hayes had a pair of hat tricks in the five AHL games since he scored twice against Buffalo.

The Penguins’ roster is currently full with 23 players, but forward Filip Hallander is in WBS on a conditioning assignment. If Hayes remains with the team beyond this week, the team would have to make a personnel decision in order to activate Hallander, who has been out for the last 42 games due to a blood clot, unless Crosby lands on injured reserve.

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