Forward Patric Hornqvist injured in Penguins' practice
Another day, another injury for the Penguins.
Forward Patric Hornqvist left practice in Cranberry early after crashing into the boards on Monday. Coach Mike Sullivan said Hornqvist was being evaluated for an undisclosed injury but had no update beyond that.
The news wasn’t all bad for the Penguins, who have been ravaged by injuries in recent weeks.
Defenseman Justin Schultz skated prior to practice with skills coach Ty Hennes.
“It went very well,” Sullivan said of Schultz’s skating session. “He’s been skating now for a number of days. The next step for be for him to join practice. We’ll see how he responds today and make decisions accordingly. But I would imagine he’s close to joining the team for practice.”
There was a bit of an update as well on forward Bryan Rust who has been sidelined the past two games because of an undisclosed injury. Sullivan indicated Rust, who was injured during a morning skate in Columbus on Friday, was day to day.
Along with Schultz, forwards Nick Bjugstad and Sidney Crosby remain on injured reserve with core muscle injuries. Additionally, defenseman Brian Dumoulin is expected to be sidelined a minimum of eight weeks with a left ankle injury.
Notes:
• Just as practice ended, the team placed forward Joseph Blandisi on waivers at noon. He will remain on waivers until noon Tuesday.
• The team signed former Devils and Ducks forward Stefan Noesen to a one-year, two-way contract worth a prorated $700,000. Previously signed to an AHL contract, Noesen 26, was the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ leading scorer with 22 points and 14 goals.
• In practice, the team’s lines were:
Jake Guentzel - Evgeni Malkin - Patric Hornqvist
Alex Galchenyuk - Jared McCann - Dominik Simon
Dominik Kahun - Teddy Blueger - Brandon Tanev
Zach Aston-Reese - Sam Lafferty - Joseph Blandisi
• After Hornqvist departed, he was replaced on the top line by assistant coach Mark Recchi.
• The defensemen rotated around.
• The top power-play unit included Aston-Reese, Galchenyuk, Guentzel, Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang.
• The second power-play group was composed of Kahun, McCann and Simon as well as defensemen Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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