Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry was removed from the NHL’s protocol for covid-19 and joined his teammates for practice Friday in Cranberry.

On Thursday, Jarry was placed into the protocol and withheld from practice.

Friday afternoon, coach Mike Sullivan indicated Jarry had a false-positive test for the virus.

“That’s certainly a relief from our standpoint,” Sullivan said. “We were excited that he was in the practice (Friday).”

In three games this season, Jarry has a 2-0-1 record along with a 1.62 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage. While the team typically does not declare its starting goaltender before the day of a game, Jarry will presumably be in net for the team’s home contest Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Carter out

Forward Jeff Carter will not play in that contest, however, as he remains in the protocol.

The veteran forward, who has served as the Penguins’ top center through the first four games of the season, tested positive for covid-19 and has been withheld from practice since Thursday.

Sullivan indicated Carter remains asymptomatic as of Thursday night and confirmed he will not be in Saturday’s lineup.

“He’ll go through a certain protocol, once again, that the league has spelled out for us,” Sullivan said. “It’s fairly complicated because it involves county and state rules and regulations as well with respect to this stuff. Our medical staff does a great job there just as far as making sure we adhere to those protocols.”

The league’s protocol requires players who test positive to remain in isolation for 10 days but allows for an early exit provided they are vaccinated, asymptomatic and test negative on two consecutive days within that window. Every player in the organization is vaccinated.

In four games this season, Carter is tied for the team lead in scoring with four points (one goal, three assists).

O’Connor promoted

With Carter as well as Sidney Crosby (left wrist) and Evgeni Malkin (right knee) sidelined, the Penguins have had to scramble their remaining able-bodied centers.

With Evan Rodrigues and Teddy Blueger manning the pivot on the first and second lines, respectively, rookie Drew O’Connor centered the third line during practice Thursday and Friday.

In three games this season, O’Connor has three points (one goal, two assists), but virtually all of that success has come while skating as a winger on the fourth line.

Why use him on the third line instead of other options such as veterans Brian Boyle or Sam Lafferty?

“We’re trying to put guys in positions to be successful and allow them to play to their strengths,” Sullivan said. “When we look at a player like Brian Boyle or Sam Lafferty, those guys bring a certain element to your table that can make us a better team and help us win games. Drew is a guy that we look at, we’re very intrigued by his game. There’s a lot of room for growth, but one of the things that excites us about his game is his skating ability, his size and his ability to play center ice.

“We tried him there throughout the course of training camp. He got a lot of time there in the exhibition games, and he did a pretty good job for us in that role. He has an offensive dimension to his game. He’s got a good shot. He’s good in the battle areas. He can go to the net. So given that circumstance, we thought we would try him at that center ice position on the line he’s on right now.”

The team’s lines and pairings in practice on Friday were:

59 Jake Guentzel – 9 Evan Rodrigues – 42 Kasperi Kapanen

12 Zach Aston-Reese – 53 Teddy Blueger – 23 Brock McGinn

16 Jason Zucker – 10 Drew O’Connor – 43 Danton Heinen

49 Dominik Simon – 11 Brian Boyle – 18 Sam Lafferty

8 Brian Dumoulin – 58 Kris Letang

28 Marcus Pettersson – 6 John Marino

5 Mike Matheson – 2 Chad Ruhwedel

The top power-play unit included Guentzel, Kapanen, Letang, Rodrigues and Zucker. Crosby worked on the second unit along with some combination of Heinen, Marino, Matheson, O’Connor and Simon.

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