Pittsburgh Penguins forward Drew O’Connor will be sidelined on a “week-to-week” basis, coach Mike Sullivan said.
On Monday, the Penguins placed the rookie on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 15 because of an undisclosed ailment. Sullivan provided an unspecified time frame for O’Connor on Wednesday.
O’Connor has appeared in 22 NHL games this season and has five points (two goals, three assists) while averaging 10 minutes, 17 seconds of ice time. In five American Hockey League games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he has five points (three goals, two assists).
Notes:
• Forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Danton Heinen and goaltender Casey DeSmith rejoined the team after being in the NHL’s protocols for covid-19.
DeSmith was placed into the protocols Jan. 10, and Aston-Reese and Heinen entered Jan. 11.
During Wednesday’s practice in Cranberry, Aston-Reese and Heinen skated on a “fifth-line” with forward Radim Zohorna, currently assigned to the taxi squad. Meanwhile, DeSmith rotated a bit with reserve goaltender Louis Domingue.
Sullivan was vague when asked if they would be available for Thursday’s home game against the Ottawa Senators.
“I guess, technically, you could say yes because they tested out (of protocols),” Sullivan said. “But are they ready to play? That’s a different question.”
• The Penguins’ lines and pairs during practice were:
59 Jake Guentzel - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust
16 Jason Zucker - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 42 Kasperi Kapanen
49 Dominik Simon - 77 Jeff Carter - 9 Evan Rodrigues
11 Brian Boyle - 53 Teddy Blueger - 23 Brock McGinn
12 Zach Aston-Reese - 67 Radim Zohorna - 43 Danton Heinen
8 Brian Dumoulin - 58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson - 6 John Marino
5 Mike Matheson - 2 Chad Ruhwedel
52 Mark Friedman
The top power-play unit involved Crosby, Guentzel, Letang, Malkin and Rust. The second power-play unit included Carter, Kapanen, Marino, Rodrigues and Zucker.
