Penguins forward Brian Boyle was absent from practice in Cranberry on Thursday. Coach Mike Sullivan indicated Boyle is dealing with an undisclosed injury and was withheld for precautionary reasons.
“I’d like to say he’s a maintenance day right now but that status may change moving forward,” Sullivan said. “It could turn into a day-to-day thing. It’s nothing significant but we chose to hold him off the ice today.”
In 19 games this season, Boyle has three goals while averaging 10:41 of ice time per game.
Notes:
• The Penguins lines and pairs in practice were:
9 Evan Rodrigues – 87 Sidney Crosby – 42 Kasperi Kapanen
16 Jason Zucker – 77 Jeff Carter – 43 Danton Heinen
12 Zach Aston-Reese – 53 Teddy Blueger – 23 Brock McGinn
49 Dominik Simon – 18 Sam Lafferty – 10 Drew O’Connor
8 Brian Dumoulin – 58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson – 6 John Marino
5 Mike Matheson – 2 Chad Ruhwedel
• Injured forward Evgeni Malkin, currently designated to long-term injured reserve as he recovers from offseason knee surgery, mixed in with the group. During line rushes, he took a “shift” as the left wing on the top line. Additionally, he worked in with the second power-play unit.
• The top power-play unit included Carter, Crosby, Letang, Rodrigues and Zucker. The second power-play group involved some combination of Heinen, Kapanen, Malkin, Marino, Matheson, O’Connor and Simon.
• Injured forwards Jake Guentzel (right hand) and Bryan Rust (undisclosed) each worked out on the ice before practice. Both players are currently designated to injured reserve.
• Sullivan indicated skating and skills development coach Ty Hennes is in protocol for covid-19.
