While the Pittsburgh Penguins continue to navigate a nasty injury bug that’s kneecapped the team’s corps of defenders and chipped away at its bottom-six forwards, Friday evening’s game against Ottawa featured a major dose of good news in the return to action of goalie Tristan Jarry and blueliner Jeff Petry.
Jarry and Petry had missed extensive time because of injury — Jarry since Jan. 2 and Petry since Dec. 10 — but both players helped elevate the Penguins to a 4-1 win over the Senators.
For Jarry, that came in the form of recording a robust 44 saves. As for Petry, in his first game back he led the Penguins with 25 minutes, 25 seconds on ice.
“It gives the group a boost when people come back fresh and ready to go like they were, so huge props for them for that,” defenseman Marcus Pettersson said.
The Penguins may have gotten back the services of two key players, yet they are not out of the woods with respect to returning to full health.
Defensemen Kris Letang (long-term) and Jan Rutta remain on injured reserve, as do forwards Josh Archibald and Ryan Poehling. Kasperi Kapanen is not skating as he battles an undisclosed lower-body injury.
Of the above bunch, Kapanen is the only player not able to take the ice.
Per coach Mike Sullivan, Kapanen’s injury will not require surgery.
“He’s going through a process right now,” Sullivan said. “He’s making improvements, (and) his status hasn’t changed; right now he’s week-to-week. He’s not skating right now, but we’re hopeful we’ll get him on the ice here in a timely manner.”
Archibald, who has not played since Dec. 18, and Poehling, absent from the lineup since Dec. 30, practiced as full participants Saturday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, but Rutta did not partake.
Sullivan said Saturday that Letang, Rutta, Kapanen and Archibald will not travel with the Penguins for their Sunday afternoon game at the New Jersey Devils.
Poehling will be a game-time decision.
“We’re anxious to get these guys back in our lineup,” Sullivan said. “They make us a better team. Our focus right now is the guys that are in the lineup and making sure that we do everything in our power to set ourselves up for success. We have enough to win games, we believe that. Our expectation is to win when we go into the game every night, and that’s where our focus is.”
The Penguins utilized the following lines, defensive pairings and power-play units during their Saturday practice:
59 Jake Guentzel - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust
16 Jason Zucker - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 67 Rickard Rakell
23 Brock McGinn - 53 Teddy Blueger - 77 Jeff Carter
10 Drew O’Connor - 45 Jonathan Gruden - 43 Danton Heinen
28 Marcus Pettersson - 26 Jeff Petry
8 Brian Dumoulin - 52 Mark Friedman
73 P.O Joseph - 2 Chad Ruhwedel
24 Ty Smith - 58 Kris Letang
Power-play group one included Crosby, Malkin, Rakell, Guentzel and Petry.
Power-play group two featured Rust, Carter, Heinen, Zucker and Joseph (with Letang subbing in at point).
