Penguins notebook: Forward Danton Heinen returns to lineup vs. Bruins
Penguins forward Danton Heinen returned to the lineup for Tuesday’s road game against the Boston Bruins.
He had missed his team’s previous two games — each of which came before the team’s recent five-day break for the All-Star Game event — because of a suspected back injury.
“It was just a little tweak,” Heinen said to media in Boston after Tuesday’s morning skate. “Just something I had to give a little bit of rest, and the break came at a good time. I feel good now. The rest was great. I feel ready to go.”
Heinen seems ready to get his scoring going, too. Before Tuesday, Heinen had gone 10 games without a goal.
“For me, it’s trying to limit the ups and downs and trying to be as consistent as I can,” Heinen said. “It doesn’t always happen for you. Sometimes, when they’re not going in, you feel like you’re playing well. … It’s just a matter of trying to keep your game at a high level whether it’s going in or not.”
Entering Tuesday, Heinen had 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in 40 games. During the early stages of the season, when star forwards Sidney Crosby (left wrist) and Evgeni Malkin (right knee) were sidelined as they recovered from offseason surgeries, Heinen helped buoy the team’s offense.
He’d like to offer a more consistent contribution even if those players are in the lineup.
“Obviously, the big guns are firing, and you love to see that,” Heinen said. “You don’t always want to rely on them. You want to have a good supporting cast, I guess, that supports the offense. I put pressure on myself to produce. Just got to stick with it and get back on track.
“Sometimes it doesn’t go in, sometimes it does. We’re a pretty deep team. When everybody is contributing, it’s a great spot.”
Penguins happy with Puustinen’s development
A day after being recalled to the NHL roster for the first time in his career, Penguins rookie forward Valtteri Puustinen was a healthy scratch for Tuesday’s game.
A native of Finland, Puustinen is in the midst of his first season in North America. He is the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ leading scorer with 27 points (13 goals, 14 assists) in 40 American Hockey League games.
A seventh-round pick (No. 203 overall) in the 2019 draft, Puustinen has always been a long shot to reach the NHL, but he seems to have established a strong trajectory toward reaching that terminus.
“We’re thrilled with (Puustinen’s) game and his overall development to this point,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He comes over, gets thrown into training camp and I’m sure that first experience is an eye-opener for players. I don’t think (Puustinen) was any different in that regard. We recognized his instincts right away and his skill set. He’s a guy that we’re excited about that we think could potentially could play the game that we’re trying to play in Pittsburgh. He’s done very well (with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton).
“He’s a guy that’s playing on both sides of the puck. … We know he’s got the offensive instincts. But he’s also developing his overall game, his wall play, his defensive responsibilities, his play away from the puck, all of those things that, for us, are so critical for players to be able to make the jump to the NHL level. He’s in much better shape now than when he came to training camp. He deserves a whole lot of credit for that in how hard he’s worked with the strength and conditioning (staffers with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) and the coaching staff down there and his nutrition and his diet.”
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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