Jusso Riikola returns to Penguins practice, albeit in non-contact jersey

Slowly but surely, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ battered blue line is returning to full strength.

Friday’s practice was the first in more than a month that featured Jusso Riikola since the defenseman suffered an undisclosed injury believed to be to his upper-body. Though he had worked with the Penguins’ taxi squad Thursday, Riikola hadn’t appeared in a game or full-squad practice in exactly one month — he was injured during a Jan. 19 win against the Washington Capitals.

Riikola wore a gray “no-contact” jersey during Friday’s practice at the team facility in Cranberry Township. There was no further official update on Riikola’s status from Penguins management.

Riikola and Brian Dumoulin (lower-body) remain out, but the Penguins defense corps has welcomed back Marcus Pettersson and Mike Matheson over the past two weeks. After using 10 defensemen all of 2019-20, the Penguins deployed 11 over their first nine games of this season.

”It was pretty wild to start the year with that many guys out,” defenseman Cody Ceci said Friday. “And they were all on the left side, which forced some guys on the right side to go play on our left and kind of jumble around the D pairs a little bit. But it’s always good to get guys back into the lineup and the them healthy.”

Even if the situation leads to 8-9 healthy, capable bodies for what is only six available lineup spots for any given game?

“I think it’s been competitive all year,” Ceci said, “and it’s going to continue to be that way.”

The left-handed-shooting Riikola has appeared in two games this season and 75 over his three seasons with the organization.

The Penguins’ next game is 7 p.m. Saturday at home against the New York Islanders.

Keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.