Penguins Practice: Battle Drills, Physical Play; Injury Updates

No, it wasn’t a bag skate, where players practice without pucks and hold skating drills to near exhaustion. But the Pittsburgh Penguins’ practice on Thursday was considerably more physical than usual, including fairly intense battle drills.

And you know what? They liked it. Or at least appreciated it.

“It’s going to be really good for us,” winger Rickard Rakell said after the workout at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. “The game we want to play is a physical game. You see how many times last game there were puck battles around the boards. That can be a difference-maker. Possession or shutting down the opponents or offensively creating something.”

The Penguins blew a two-goal lead in the third period Tuesday in what became a 3-2 overtime loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Coach Mike Sullivan afterward mentioned puck battles as one of the areas of concern, and that might go for the other seven blown leads of two or more goals through the first quarter of the season.

With two practice days between games – the Penguins host the top team in the NHL Friday, the Winnipeg Jets – the team used Wednesday to give some big-minutes players a day off the ice. They had all healthy players working Thursday, including those hard-nosed drills.

“Everyone here enjoys these kinds of practices. It’s a lot of fun battling,” Rakell said, adding that, besides the practical and strategic advantages, it’s a way to work through some frustrations over the team’s disappointing 7-10-4 record.

“For sure,” he said. “Everyone’s getting a little bit pissed off. I think it’s very useful, but still, you skate away with a smile on your face. You went into the battle, you’re in the battle, but you’re coming out of it and giving each other a tap on the shin pads.”

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan indicated it was a plan well laid out and a “main theme” for Thursday’s practice even before the players hit the ice.

“The message is, we’re just trying to get better in the areas of our game that can help us have success,” Sullivan said. “We had a film session (before practice) that was specifically focused on defensive zone coverage and our ability to get the puck and get out of our end so we spend less time there, and some of the details around that.”

Defenseman Marcus Pettersson also appreciated the upside to the bruising practice.

“We need to get better in our (defensive) zone,” Pettersson said. “We don’t want to waste time out there with things we don’t want to get better at. It was a physical practice. We need it. We’ve got to get better in the (defensive) zone. We spend too much time there.

“Every team wants to defend with numbers. If you’re on the defensive side of the puck, you want to keep the puck in the short (side), in a small space so you don’t have to chase all over the ice. To do that, you’ve got to be physical.”

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who was one of the players held out of practice on Wednesday as a matter of rest, said the schedule worked in the team’s favor to have one of the most physical practices of the season so far on Thursday.

“It’s good. We’ve got to find a way to get better, especially around the beginning of the year,” Crosby said. “Usually we have more time to practice, and we haven’t had that this year with our schedule.

“I think to get these practices now is good, and to be home for a little bit. It’s something where we can use these days to get better.”

Injury/Illness Updates

Defenseman Kris Letang, who has missed the past three games because of illness, practiced for the second day in a row.

Forward Kevin Hayes, who has an upper body injury, also practiced.

Forwards Blake Lizotte and Cody Glass, both in concussion protocol, skated before the rest of the group.