(UPDATED) Penguins Practice: Petry, Letang Absent; Sullivan Keeps New Lines

NEW YORK — Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry was felled by a high hit Thursday night and missed most of the Penguins’ 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers. Kris Letang played five seconds shy of 29 minutes after playing 26 minutes in the 6-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.

Neither Penguins defenseman attended practice at the small Chelsea Piers rink in New York City Friday.

UPDATE: Coach Mike Sullivan confirmed the obvious. Kris Letang was given a maintenance day because of his increased workload over the last two games. Sullivan also said Petry is still being evaluated after being helped off the ice Thursday.

“We’re trying to win hockey games. We’re trying to win that game right in front of us,” Sullivan said. “We understand who’s playing a lot. And yeah, that was one of the reasons why Kris was (out) today. So we’re going to manage the workloads as best we can, but the priorities are trying to win games.”

Penguins forward Danton Heinen subbed as the sixth defenseman, and Chad Ruhwedel also took a regular shift through line rushes.

Despite the Penguins’ obvious problems on Thursday and relative ineffectiveness beyond the top line with Sidney Crosby, coach Mike Sullivan kept the new Penguins lines intact. Midway through the second period Thursday, Sullivan shuffled the lines, which stuck Friday.

Pittsburgh Penguins lines:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell

Zucker-Malkin-Rust

O’Connor-Granlund-Nylander

Poehling-Carter-Archibald

The defensive pairs were in flux, with only five defenders present. P.O Joseph, Jan Rutta, Marcus Petterson, Brian Dumoulin, and Ruhwedel were present.

Penguins PP1: Marcus Pettersson filled Letang’s role at the point. Pettersson, Malkin, Crosby, Guentzel, Rakell.

Don’t expect the first power-play to remain intact. Letang will most likely resume his role.

PP2: Joseph, Zucker, Rust, Carter, Granlund.

The Penguins were not awarded a power play Thursday, despite the Tyler Motte hit on Petry and Chris Kreider’s trip of Brian Dumoulin on the game-winning goal.