Penguins Practice: Malkin in White; Sullivan Keeps Team on Ice

BRANDON, Fla. — It was not a short, walk-through practice.

One day after the Tampa Bay Lightning embarrassed the Pittsburgh Penguins, coach Mike Sullivan kept the Penguins on the ice longer than the usual travel-day practice.

The coach had a few messages to deliver. While it wasn’t a bag skate, the players logged a few extra strides with a myriad of up-tempo drills and some extra skating, too.

There was a full house, including Evgeni Malkin, who missed the game Tuesday with an upper-body injury. However, Malkin was in a white non-contact jersey.

Sullivan said Malkin is listed as day-to-day and that it is “probably too early to say” whether he will be available for the Penguins’ game in Buffalo Thursday.

Also on the injury front, defenseman Ryan Shea appeared to be a full participant.

The Penguins didn’t do line rushes, but center Kevin Hayes kept a black practice sweater. Black is typically reserved for the top-six forwards. Instead of simple line rushes, Sullivan reverted to a four-on-two drill at full speed in from one end of the ice to the other,

“We think we can do a better job generating offense out of deep ice,” he said. “We felt like today, it was an opportunity to get some reps at it. Just remind some of our guys of some of the details of just trying to instill the right habits. That was the main objective of that one.”

One lineup tweak to note: Sullivan reverted back to his high-energy third line, reuniting Connor Dewar with Blake Lizotte and Noel Acciari.

Penguins Lines

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Danton Heinen-Kevin Hayes-Philip Tomasino

Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari

Boko Imama-Joona Koppanen-Emil Bemstrom

Potential Defense

(there weren’t consistent pairs in the drills)

Matt Grzelcyk-Kris Letang

Erik Karlsson-Conor Timmins

Ryan Shea-Ryan Graves-Vladislav Kolyachonok