Penguins Practice: Dumoulin Stands Out; Injuries Update

CRANBERRY — Brian Dumoulin was easy to pick out during the Pittsburgh Penguins’ practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex Wednesday.

After all, he was the only one wearing a red jersey.

It was not, however, a no-contact jersey.

It was a no-goal one.

Scoring goals, of course, never has been Dumoulin’s forte, and his inability to score during a shootout drill at the end of a recent practice led to him having to wear that sweater. He also had to use other equipment chosen by his teammates, including an undersized wooden stick he’d gotten from Sidney Crosby.

“It was fun,” Crosby said, smiling. “I guess he looked great, in a certain way.”

It’s the latest twist on a Pittsburgh Penguins tradition that began some years ago, with the player who fails to get a goal during that competition being compelled to serve post-practice drinks to his teammates, drive the equipment truck or grow a mustache that he had to keep until the next month’s competition.

Crosby, by the way, pointed out that “that could have been me” in red today, because he was the other finalist with Dumoulin in that shootout drill.

Injury update

Forward Ryan Poehling, who suffered an unspecified upper-body injury during the Penguins’ 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers Tuesday, and Josh Archibald, who didn’t play against New York, are continuing to be evaluated, associate coach Todd Reirden said.

He added that both are considered “day-to-day.”

It is not known whether either will be in the lineup when Carolina visits PPG Paints Arena Thursday at 7:08 p.m.

Well-rounded Rakell

Rickard Rakell is best-known for his offensive ability, but he demonstrated how diverse his game actually is during the second period of the Rangers game when he played a leading role in getting the game turned in the Penguins’ favor.

New York was up, 1-0, when Rakell delivered a big hit on Rangers center Filip Chytil and subsequently drew the penalty that led to the first of the Penguins’ two power-play goals, which he made possible by setting an excellent screen for Evgeni Malkin.

“I think I saw an opportunity to throw a hit,” Rakell said. “I got rocked pretty hard before that, so I just felt like I needed to do something.”

He obviously did. A lot.

“You need those momentum shifts,” Crosby said. “Especially last night. We didn’t have a lot going. That was a big turning point in the game. That changed the whole game, basically.”

Personnel combinations

The Penguins stuck with the personnel groupings they used during their victory against New York, with the exception of Drew O’Connor filling in for Poehling at left wing on the fourth line, with Teddy Blueger and Danton Heinen.

Here are the lines and defense pairings:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell

Zucker-Malkin-Rust

McGinn-Carter-Kapanen

O’Connor-Blueger-Heinen

Pettersson-Letang

Dumoulin-Rutta

Joseph-Ruhwedel

Extra: Friedman