Injured Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry, forward Jason Zucker labeled as 'day to day'

Injured Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry and forward Jason Zucker have each been labeled as “day to day” by head coach Mike Sullivan.

Neither player participated in Sunday’s practice at Cranberry. Their statuses were announced by Sullivan following practice.

Sullivan added each player is not expected to be available for “the first couple of games” in the Penguins’ first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers which begins on Tuesday.

Jarry has been sidelined since suffering a right foot injury April 14 and missed the final six games of the regular season as a result of the ailment.

In 58 games this season, Jarry, an All-Star, has a 34-18-6 record, a 2.42 goals against average, a .919 save percentage and four shutouts.

Zucker suffered an undisclosed injury during a 5-1 home loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday and left that contest during the first period. He has not practiced since that game and was scratched for the regular season finale, a 5-3 home win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.

Various ailments — most prominently a core muscle injury that required surgery in January — have limited Zucker to 41 games and 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) this season.

Defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who left Friday’s game late in the third period, was a full participant in Sunday’s practice.

Drew O’Connor returns

AP

In 22 games this season, Penguins rookie forward Drew O’Connor had five points (two goals, three assists).

On Saturday, the Penguins recalled rookie forward Drew O’Connor from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Being summoned as the postseason begins has an obvious appeal to O’Connor.

“It’s super exciting,” O’Connor said. “It’s an awesome opportunity to be here for the playoffs. I was here for a bit last year during that, but it’s kind of a different feel this year. It’s super exciting to be a part of it.”

O’Connor made the NHL roster out of training camp in October and showed some promise by compiling five points in his first four games of the season. He even served as the team’s second-line center for a handful of games while franchise centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were on the mend, recovering from offseason surgeries.

As it turned out, those were the only points O’Connor scored this past regular season at the NHL level. In total, he played 22 NHL games during the 2021-22 campaign.

That figure might have been higher had he not suffered a reported collapsed lung during a 2-1 overtime road win against the San Jose Sharks.

After serving a stretch on long-term injured reserve, O’Connor was re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Feb. 20.

Primarily deployed as a top-six center, O’Connor (6-foot-3, 200 pounds) was prolific, producing 27 points (nine goals, 18 assists) in 28 AHL games after recovering from his injury.

“It was good,” O’Connor said. “I feel like I got back to 100%. Started feeling really good down there. It was good playing a lot of minutes and getting a lot of opportunities there. Trying to make the most of it. It went well. The team is doing well there. Got ourselves into a playoff spot there. So it was a lot of fun.”

If O’Connor has any fun in the NHL playoffs, it remains to be seen. He primarily served as a reserve in Sunday’s practice and did not participate in line rushes.

But he would not have been recalled if the potential to use him wasn’t legitimate.

“He played really well (with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton),” Sullivan said. “He played really well in all capacities. One of the things that has really helped Drew is that experience of playing in all situations. He played heavy minutes down there, on both sides of the puck.

“That experience was invaluable for him. It just helps him when he plays at this level. It makes him more versatile for us. He’s played center a fair amount as well. Now, he has a comfort level there. We have the ability to use him at center. We can use him on the wing, he’s a real versatile player.”

Notes:

The Penguins’ lines and pairs in practice were:

59 Jake Guentzel - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust

43 Danton Heinen - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 67 Rickard Rakell

23 Brock McGinn - 77 Jeff Carter - 42 Kasperi Kapanen

11 Brian Boyle - 53 Teddy Blueger - 9 Evan Rodrigues

8 Brian Dumoulin - 58 Kris Letang

28 Marcus Pettersson - 6 John Marino

5 Mike Matheson - 2 Chad Ruhwedel

18 Nathan Beaulieu - 52 Mark Friedman

The top power-play unit included Crosby, Guentzel, Letang, Malkin and Rust. The second power-play unit involved some combination of Carter, Heinen, Kapanen, Matheson, Rakell and Rodrigues.

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