Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust and defenseman Justin Schultz appear on the verge of returning to the lineup for the Penguins after participating in practice Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
Each player skated without any restrictions and even got work in on the team’s top power-play unit during the practice session.
“They had good practices,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “They participated fully, full contact. There were no restrictions on their participation, so that’s encouraging.”
Sullivan labeled each player as a game-time decision for Friday’s home contest against the Arizona Coyotes.
This was Rust’s first practice with the team since he slipped and fell feet-first into the boards of Nationwide Arena in Columbus during a morning skate Nov. 29. He has missed the past three games because of an undisclosed ailment.
“Feeling better today,” Rust said. “It’s obviously fun to be back out there with the team and get things going a little bit. Anytime you get injured, it doesn’t really matter how it happens, you’re not too happy. But thankfully, this has been a rather quick recovery.”
Given the team’s rotten luck with injuries as of late, Rust kind of laughed off his latest malady.
“You just kind of shake your head,” Rust said. “Just bad luck kind of, just losing an edge. It’s one of those things that happen. You can’t get too upset about it.”
Schultz has missed the past seven games with a suspected groin injury. He appears optimistic regarding his availability for Friday’s contest.
“I’ll be a game-time decision,” Schultz said. “I feel good though. Hopefully, everything feels good tomorrow.”
Defensemen Jack Johnson and Kris Letang were absent from practice. Letang was given what was termed as a “maintenance day” after logging 27 minutes, 38 seconds of ice time on 31 shifts during Wednesday’s 3-0 home win against the St. Louis Blues.
Johnson missed Wednesday’s game because of illness.
“Jack is just recovering from his illness,” Sullivan said. “He does feel much better. But having said that, he hasn’t had a lot of food in him over the last 24 hours or so. We thought it was best to keep him at home and give him an opportunity to recover.”
Notes:
• The Penguins’ lines and pairings in practice were:
Jake Guentzel-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Dominik Kahun-Jared McCann-Stefan Noesen
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Brandon Tanev
Alex Galchenyuk-Sam Lafferty-Dominik Simon
John Marino-Justin Schultz
Marcus Pettersson-Chad Ruhwedel
Juuso Riikola-Zach Trotman
• Forward Joseph Blandisi was at practice but did not have a regular presence on line rushes.
• The top power-play unit included Guentzel, Letang, Malkin, Noesen and Rust. The second unit was composed of Galchenyuk, Kahun, McCann, Pettersson and Riikola.
• Forward Patric Hornqvist, who missed Wednesday’s game after falling into the boards in practice Monday at Cranberry, was spotted leaving PPG Paints Arena with a brace on his left knee.
