Penguins notebook: Ryan Poehling remains day-to-day; power play making progress

There were good vibrations aplenty at the Penguins’ Thursday morning practice in Cranberry, as alternate captain Kris Letang returned to the ice in a full-go capacity for the first time since suffering a stroke Nov. 28.

Only 10 days ago, Letang was ruled out indefinitely and is listed as day-to-day.

Letang alternated with P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel on the Penguins’ third defensive pairing and rejoined the team’s power play, switching in and out with Joseph on the second unit.

Winger Ryan Poehling, dealing with an undisclosed injury that forced him to miss Tuesday’s game against Columbus, practiced in a white noncontact jersey, while Josh Archibald was the only player absent Thursday, because of a scheduled maintenance day.

Per coach Mike Sullivan, Poehling’s status remains day-to-day as the Penguins prepare for back-to-back games against the Sabres — in Buffalo on Friday and at home Saturday.

The Penguins’ lines and defensive pairings were as follows:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell

Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust

Brock McGinn-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen

Ryan Poehling-Teddy Blueger-Danton Heinen

Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry

Brian Dumoulin-Jan Rutta

Kris Letang/P.O Joseph-Chad Ruhwedel

Power play gaining traction

At 18.4% (16 of 87) through 26 games played, the Penguins’ power play remains one of the worst in the NHL, as it ranks 26th out of the 32 clubs in the league.

Given the goal-scoring firepower among the group, with the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel, its struggles continue to come as a surprise.

But recent results could suggest a corner has been turned.

When they take the ice Friday at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, the Penguins will hope to extend their streak of games with a power-play goal to four.

Having scored on the power play in each game in December, the Penguins are 4 of 14 (28.6%) with a man-advantage this month.

While not a mind-blowing conversion rate, the recent string of successful power plays does offer a blueprint for getting more out of those units in the immediate future.

“It’s been a bit of a struggle here the first part of the season, but we know they’re very capable,” Sullivan said. “… Sometimes, when you score a goal or a couple of goals, it helps build confidence that they need to be the best. We’ll continue to try to help them so that they can continue to grow that power play to what we know it’s capable of becoming.”

In Letang’s absence, Petry has continued to run point on the Penguins’ first power play, skating alongside Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel and Rakell. The second power-play unit featured Rust, Carter, Zucker and Kapanen, with Letang alternating with Joseph.

Blueger, McGinn, Dumoulin and Rutta manned the team’s first penalty-kill unit, with Ruhwedel, Heinen, Pettersson and Poehling filling out the second squad.