Eight days after returning to NHL hockey, the Pittsburgh Penguins recovered their captain today in practice, after a six-day absence from the team.
Sidney Crosby had skated on her own the last two mornings, and did it again today. Apparently he felt good enough to rejoin the team and return to his normal place.
With Crosby running, here is our first look at the #Pens lines with everyone present:
Guentzel-Crosby-Sheary
Zucker-Malkin-Rust
Marleau-McCann-Hornqvist
Aston-Reese – Blueger-Tanev
(Lafferty, Rodrigues)Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Johnson-Schultz
Riikola-Ruhwedel-MC
– Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) July 24, 2020
Except for more injury antics, this is what the Penguins will look like in a week in a day in Toronto when they play Game 1 against the Montreal Canadiens. Also, outside of a couple of periods in November, this is the only time the entire Pens team has been healthy at the same time *
(* Yes, Nick Bjugstad and Dominik Simon are injured, but they have had smaller roles anyway, so that’s fine)
For their part, the Habs are settling in and finally putting all of their players on the ice for the first time with the somewhat recent news that Max Domi has decided to join the team and play this summer.
Its lines have settled to begin to look like this:
Thomas Tartarus – Philip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin – Nick Suzuki – Joel Armia
Artturi Lehkonen – Jesper Kotkaniemi – Paul Byron
Jordan Weal – Max Domi – Dale Weise
Ben Chiarot / Shea Weber
Brett Kulak / Jeff Petry
Victor Mete / Cale Fleury
Almost a week later, the final preparations for a short training camp are almost over. The Pens practice today, have a morning game tomorrow, and then depart for the bubble in Toronto on Sunday. From now on, it looks like they’ll do it with the healthiest, deepest gear they could have hoped for.
