Penguins forwards Sidney Crosby, Zach Aston-Reese join morning skate

Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Sidney Crosby and Zach Aston-Reese joined their teammates for a morning skate Saturday in Cranberry.

Both players participated in line and defensive pairing rushes as “defensemen,” alternating on a fourth pairing with defenseman Mike Matheson. Neither are scheduled to play in Saturday’s preseason finale, a road contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

This marked the first time Crosby had participated in a morning skate or practice since training camp opened Sept. 23. He had been sidelined since undergoing surgery on his left wrist Sept. 8. The team initially offered a minimum time frame of six weeks for recovery.

“He is on schedule,” Sullivan said. “It does indicate progress. That’s obviously his first (morning skate) joining the group. I would anticipate more of that moving forward. We’re real encouraged with the progress that he’s made to this point. … He’s in terrific shape. … He’s making real encouraging progress. It’s great for our team when he’s back on the ice. Our team had a certain jump in its step (for the morning skate). He just has that influence on the group. Everybody’s excited that he’s getting closer.”

Sullivan said he tentatively expects Crosby to travel with the team for its season-opening road trip against the Tampa Bay Lightning (Oct. 13) and Florida Panthers (Oct. 15) in order to practice with the group.

Aston-Reese rejoined his teammates on the ice for the first time since the team announced he had tested positive for covid-19 on Sept. 27. He worked out with skating and skills development coach Ty Hennes on Friday.

“Now it’s just a matter of getting him re-acclimated to the practice environment, being around the group,” Sullivan said. “He felt much better today than he did yesterday, which is real encouraging. But we’ll monitor him every day, and we’ll continue to progress him to a return-to-play point. A lot of it’s going to do with how Zach responds to the workload that we give him.”

Sullivan previous had described Aston-Reese’s symptoms as “mild.”

Notes:

• Matheson rejoined the team after leaving practice on Friday early because of an undisclosed ailment that Sullivan suggested was not serious.

• Forward Jake Guentzel remains in isolation after the team announced he had tested positive for covid-19 on Sunday.

“Jake is continuing to go through the (NHL’s) protocol,” Sullivan said. “He continues to be asymptomatic. So that’s real positive from our standpoint. But he’s still in the protocol. There’s no change there.”

• The team’s lines and pairings were:

43 Danton Heinen - 77 Jeff Carter - 17 Bryan Rust

16 Jason Zucker - 9 Evan Rodrigues - 42 Kasperi Kapanen

23 Brock McGinn - 53 Teddy Blueger - 49 Dominik Simon

10 Drew O’Connor - 11 Brian Boyle - 18 Sam Lafferty

8 Brian Dumoulin - 58 Kris Letang

28 Marcus Pettersson - 6 John Marino

52 Mark Friedman - 2 Chad Ruhwedel

• The top power-play unit included Carter, Kapanen, Letang, Rust and Zucker. The second power-play unit involved some combination of Heinen, Marino, O’Connor, Pettersson, Rodrigues and Simon.

• Goaltender Tristan Jarry is expected to play the entire game.

• Forward Michael Chaput and Juuso Riikola were not present. Both players were placed on waivers Friday and cleared by Saturday afternoon.

• Forward Anthony Angello was placed on waivers. If he clears by 2 p.m. on Sunday, he can be assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

• According to the team’s website, the Blue Jackets’ projected lines and pairings are:

29 Patrik Laine - 42 Alexandre Texier - 93 Jakub Voracek

14 Gustav Nyquist - 96 Jack Roslovic - 28 Oliver Bjorkstrand

38 Boone Jenner - 34 Cole Sillinger - 16 Maxi Domi

59 Eric Robinson - 7 Sean Kuraly - 59 Yegor Chinakhov

22 Jake Bean - 2 Andrew Peeke

44 Vladislav Gavrikov - 27 Adam Boqvist

43 Miikko Lehtonen - 6 Gavin Bayreuther

• Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins is scheduled to start for the Blue Jackets.

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