John Marino, Mike Matheson, Dominik Simon rejoin Penguins for practice
The Pittsburgh Penguins ushered in a new year with a rare bit of positive news.
Defensemen John Marino, Mike Matheson and Dominik Simon were removed from the NHL’s protocols for covid-19 and rejoined their teammates for practice Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
Coach Mike Sullivan indicated they are available to play in Sunday’s home game against the San Jose Sharks but stopped short of guaranteeing they will be in the lineup.
“The guys that tested out of the protocol are available,” Sullivan said. “Once you test out of the protocol and you participate in practice, you’re essentially available to play. We’ll make decisionsaccordingly with respect to those guys.”
Marino and Matheson spoke with media after practice and indicated they were asymptomatic.
“Challenging to be thinking that you’re coming off (holiday) break and getting back into things then having to reset and be by yourself in the basement for a little while,” Matheson said. “I was fortunate enough to have a little gym set up at home. So I was able to keep working out. I didn’t have any symptoms. I was pretty lucky there. Pretty fortunate to stick with it a little.”
The Penguins have five players in the protocols, including forwards Teddy Blueger, Jeff Carter and Kasperi Kapanen, goaltender Tristan Jarry and defenseman P.O Joseph.
Additionally, forward Brian Boyle was not present for Saturday’s practice because of personal reasons. Sullivan ruled him out for Sunday’s game.
So it’s safe to assume the Penguins won’t be dressing anything close to their regular lineup when they face the Sharks.
But that’s nothing new to them. They have accumulated 97 man-games lost this season because of injury and illness, one of the highest figures in the NHL.
“If anyone knows (best), it’s our team,” Marino said. “With guys being out of the lineup and having new guys in and dealing with covid and everything, we’ve done this before. We’ve been through it. That experience is going to help us.”
Simpler is better
Barring anything unforeseen — and “unforeseen” has a pretty good record as of late — the Penguins’ game Sunday will be their first since a 3-2 road win against the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 19.
Because of a combination of the NHL’s holiday break and a streak of five consecutive games being postponed, the Penguins are closing in on having not played for two weeks.
They acknowledge there is bound to be a build-up of rink rust after such a long hiatus.
“It’s a matter of your mindset going into a game like tomorrow where you have been off for a while and recognizing the fact that it might it take us a little while to get going,” Matheson said. “And having a plan to combat that a little bit in the sense that you know you’re not going to be at your best. The puck might feel like it’s popping off your stick a little more. Your reads might not be there as often as the regular flow of the season. So you have to treat it like the first game of the season where you keep things simple and minimize mistakes. Whatever the first option is, you (take) that option and let the puck do the work instead of looking for the second or third option, things like that. All in all, keeping it simple will be the best recipe for us.”
Guentzel, Rust could return
Forwards Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust could return to the lineup Sunday.
Both are on injured reserve. Rust has been sidelined since suffering an undisclosed injury Nov. 24, and Guentzel has been absent after a “little fracture” in his right hand Dec. 6.
Sullivan did not provide a status on them as it pertains to Sunday’s game.
“For now, I think I’m ready to get back into the games,” Guentzel said Tuesday. “We’ll see how these next couple of days go.”
Both players skated on the team’s top line during Saturday’s practice and worked with the top power-play unit.
The Penguins’ lines and pairs Saturday were:
59 Jake Guentzel - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust
43 Danton Heinen - 9 Evan Rodrigues - 71 Evgeni Malkin
12 Zach Aston-Reese - 10 Drew O’Connor - 23 Brock McGinn
20 Kasper Bjorkqvist - 18 Sam Lafferty - 12 Dominik Simon
8 Brian Dumoulin - 58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson - 2 Chad Ruhwedel
5 Mike Matheson - 6 John Marino
50 Juuso Riikola - 52 Mark Friedman.
The top power-play unit included Crosby, Guentzel, Letang and Rust. The second power-play unit involved Heinen, Marino, Matheson, O’Connor and Simon.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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