Penguins
Penguins Practice: Malkin Still Missing; Crosby Takes the Lead

CRANBERRY — The Pittsburgh Penguins’ playoff prospects seem to be perilously close to going on life-support, but their roster appears to be rather healthy.
All expected players were on the ice for their workout Friday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
The only absentee was second-line center Evgeni Malkin, who has missed the past two games because of an unspecified lower-body injury. He did not participate in the practice or have an on-ice workout before it.
Malkin is listed as “week to week” and the Penguins have not announced a target date for him to rejoin the lineup.
Kyle Dubas, the Penguins’ president of hockey operations and general manager, watched a portion of the practice from the management balcony outside his office.
Aye aye, Captain
Perhaps the least surprising development of the upcoming Four Nations tournament has been Sidney Crosby being named captain of Team Canada.
But after Friday’s workout, Crosby downplayed being selected for that duty.
“When you get on those teams, there are so many great leaders,” he said. “For me, just having the opportunity to play for Team Canada, to be part of this group … it’s been a long time. Regardless of who’s wearing the letters, there are a lot of great leaders. I’m just really happy to play for Team Canada again.”
Penguins Lines
Coach Mike Sullivan used the following forwards lines and defense pairings during the workout:
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting-Cody Glass-Anthony Beauvillier
Drew O’Connor-Kevin Hayes-Phil Tomasino
Boko Imama-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Extras: Jesse Puljujarvi, Matt Nieto
Matt Grzelcyk-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves-P.O Joseph/Ryan Shea
Setting the standard
Phil Tomasino, a healthy scratch for the Penguins’ 3-2 overtime victory at Utah Tuesday, practiced on the third line and looks like a candidate to rejoin the lineup when Nashville visits PPG Paints Arena Saturday.
Sullivan made clear what he wants to see from Tomasino when he is back in uniform.
“When Philip’s at his best, I think he drives a lot of offense for us with his tenacity and his speed,” Sullivan said. “He plays a straight-ahead game. He’s strong on pucks. He’s willing to get inside and go to the net. … We don’t think he was at his best (before the Utah game). That’s one the reasons that we made the decision the way we did.”