Jason Zucker returns to Penguins' lineup (and Minnesota) but leaves game early

Jason Zucker was back in a familiar place Thursday.

The lineup.

Having missed 37 of the past 38 games because of a core muscle injury, the Pittsburgh Penguins forward returned to the ice in a game of consequence with roughly a month left in the regular season.

However, any ambitions Zucker had of a triumphant return were dashed midway through the second period of Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

Thanks to a shove into the boards of the Penguins’ zone by Wild forward Kevin Fiala, Zucker fell awkwardly and nearly did a split on the sequence. After appearing to hold the inside of his right thigh, Zucker required assistance from teammates just to leave the ice before making his way to the dressing room.

It was an bitter way to end what was his first trip to St. Paul as a visiting player since the Penguins acquired Zucker via trade with the Wild in February 2020.

Roughly a month after being dealt to the Penguins, the NHL went on hiatus because of the pandemic. The remainder of the 2019-20 regular season was canceled, and the entire 2020-21 regular season was limited to division play because of limitations due to covid-19.

As a result, Zucker went more than two years in between playing NHL games in Minnesota, the state in which he still maintains his full-time home.

“It’s a little bit different,” Zucker said to media in St. Paul about being a visitor to Xcel Energy Center for the first time. “It’s odd being on this side of it. Coming in and not just going straight to my house and kind of going to the hotel and that whole scenario is a little bit odd. It’s kind of the same feeling when I (played in his hometown of Las Vegas) for the first time. Getting on a bus and going to a hotel was a little bit weird.”

Zucker’s tenure with the Wild was anything but weird. It was fairly consistent. A second-round pick (No. 59 overall) in 2010, Zucker played in Minnesota for parts of nine seasons. Of the six seasons he spent entirely in the NHL, he reached the 20-goal mark five times.

In summer 2019, the Wild underwent front office changes and former Penguins executive Bill Guerin was installed as the Wild’s general manager. Guerin’s first major trade involved sending Zucker to the Penguins in exchange for a handful of assets.

That transaction helped Guerin begin to reassemble the franchise in his vision. Today, the Wild rank third in the Western Conference in points (86).

“Obviously, Bill Guerin came in and has a different vision,” Zucker said. “He’s put that to work pretty quickly. It’s good to see them having success. I’m rooting for all those guys and everybody that I played with. There aren’t too many of them. I’m rooting for all of them. I hope for nothing but success for all those guys.”

The Penguins are hoping Zucker will finally begin to have sustained success in their jersey having put his chronic injury behind him. Aside from a strong initial start with the Penguins when he played on a line with No. 1 center Sidney Crosby — Zucker scored 12 points in 15 games in 2019-20 before the pandemic halted play — he has rarely displayed the 20-goal form he established in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

He opened Thursday’s contest on the left wing of the Penguins’ second line with Evgeni Malkin at center and Rickard Rakell on the right wing.

“(Zucker) can be invaluable to our team,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s just a good player on both sides of the puck. He makes us harder to play against, he’s a gritty guy, he’s good in the battle areas, he’s hard at the net front. He’s an important player for us. To get him back in the lineup, I think, he makes us a better team in so many different ways.”

Said Zucker: “The injuries for me, personally, haven’t really helped the situation. But at the same time, that’s just part of the game. That’s the way it goes. Hopefully, I can get past this and start playing some hockey.”

Note: Zucker was formally activated from long-term injured reserve on Thursday afternoon while forward Brock McGinn (suspected right arm or hand) was designated to long-term injured reserve retroactive to March 11.