Penguins

Penguins Practice: Update on Tomasino; More PP Shakeup

Published

2 months ago

December 9, 2024

Impactful newcomer Phil Tomasino was on the ice for Pittsburgh Penguins practice Monday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, wearing a white, apparently non-contact, jersey.

That gave the team full attendance at practice.

Tomasino got an unspecified upper-body injury late in Friday’s game against the Rangers in New York and did not play Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. His status for Tuesday’s home game against the Colorado Avalanche remained unclear as of the time of practice. He rotated in briefly during line rushes but was not on one of the main four lines.

UPDATE: Per coach Mike Sullivan, Tomasino was officially a non-contact player and is out with an upper-body injury.

Since the forward was acquired from Nashville in a trade for a draft pick, Tomasino has three goals, including two game-winners, and an assist in five games while playing with Evgeni Malkin on the second line and getting some power play time.

Speaking of the power play, the Penguins at practice split Malkin and Sidney Crosby onto separate units, a move they employed in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Toronto. In that game, Rickard Rakell and Michael Bunting each scored a power-play goal. Coach Mike Sullivan explained after that game that he made the switch because while the team’s second unit had been faring well, the top unit had been off for some time.