Penguins’ Frederick Gaudreau out week to week; Kasperi Kapanen resumes skating
The seemingly endless revolving door of injured Pittsburgh Penguins forwards continues to turn.
During the game in which bottom-six forward Teddy Blueger returned from a four-week injury absence, another checking-line center suffered an injury that will keep him out for a significant period of time. Frederick Gaudreau was termed “week to week” by coach Mike Sullivan on Tuesday.
A lower-body injury prevented Gaudreau from playing during the third period of Sunday’s 5-2 win at the New Jersey Devils.
Gaudreau has a goal and three assists and is a plus-2 with strong shot-possession metrics in 13 games for the Penguins this season, his first NHL action in two years. Gaudreau generally slid seamlessly into Blueger’s role as a bottom-six center and as one of the Penguins’ most relied-upon penalty-killing forwards.
More positive injury news Tuesday from Sullivan came in the revelation that Kasperi Kapanen returned to the ice. Kapanen has missed the past nine games because of a lower-body injury.
“ ‘Kappy’ skated this morning for the first time, and we will see how he responds to that,” Sullivan said during a video conference call with media after an off-ice workout at the Penguins’ facility in Cranberry. “But certainly, that’s an encouraging sign from (Kapanen’s) standpoint.”
Sullivan also noted Evgeni Malkin (lower-body injury) again skated on his own Tuesday morning, and Brandon Tanev (upper-body injury) continued to go through his rehabilitation via off-ice workouts.
Malkin first took to the ice a week ago. He has not played since March 16 and has missed 13 games. General manager Ron Hextall on Monday told reporters he doesn’t expect Tanev to play before the playoffs.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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