Penguins forward Jake Guentzel expected to play Tuesday after missing practice
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Penguins forward Jake Guentzel was absent from practice at PPG Paints Arena on Monday for what was termed as a “maintenance day” by coach Mike Sullivan.
He is expected to be available for Tuesday’s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets according to Sullivan.
A staple on the top line as well as the first power-play unit, Guentzel has appeared in 58 games this season and has 54 points (24 goals, 30 assists) while averaging 20:05 of ice time per contest.
Notes:
• Forward Ryan Poehling participated during the practice, albeit in a non-contact fashion. A series of undisclosed injuries have hobbled him since December, causing him to miss 25 of the past 38 games.
Sullivan labeled Poehling’s presence as “significant progress” in his recovery.
The team’s lines and pairs during practice were:
43 Danton Heinen – 87 Sidney Crosby – 67 Rickard Rakell
16 Jason Zucker – 71 Evgeni Malkin – 17 Bryan Rust
10 Drew O’Connor – 64 Mikael Granlund – 77 Jeff Carter
13 Nick Bonino – 25 Ryan Poehling – 15 Josh Archibald
8 Brian Dumoulin – 58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson – 26 Jeff Petry
7 Dmitry Kulikov – 44 Jan Rutta
73 P.O Joseph – 2 Chad Ruhwedel
• The top power-play unit included Crosby, Letang, Malkin, Rakell and Rust. The second power-play unit involved Carter, Granlund, Heinen, Petry and Zucker.