Penguins Practice: Ludvig Out, Situational Work

The Pittsburgh Penguins practice was not a bag skate or a harsh message sent, but coach Mike Sullivan did work on special teams and interesting drills in which the team had to protect a lead.

Of course, getting leads has not been a problem. Keeping them or expanding them has been a monstrous problem. The Penguins led the Dallas Stars 1-0 before succumbing 4-1 Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena.

The Penguins’ lines remained the same, though defenseman John Ludvig was absent. Ludvig had to be helped off the ice in the second period Tuesday night after he was felled by an open-ice hit on Dallas center Radek Faksa. Ludvig got the worst of the collision and was motionless on the ice for an extended time.

The Penguins three depth defensemen, P.O Joseph, Chad Ruhwedel, and Ryan Shea, rotated on the third pairing.

UPDATE: Ludvig was diagnosed with a concussion. Coach Mike Sullivan had no further updates on Ludvig.

The Penguins’ lines remained the same.

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust

Smith-Malkin-Rakell

O’Connor-Eller-Zohorna

Nieto-Acciari-Carter

Defense:

Graves-Letang

Pettersson-Karlsson

Shea-Joseph-Ruhwedel