Dumoulin takes big step, makes return to practice
Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin returned to practice with the team Tuesday for the first time since surgery to repair a broken jaw last month.
Dumoulin, in a green practice jersey and plastic shield which covered most of his face was “limited,” according to coach Mike Sullivan.
“I was missing the guys and stuff and being around them,” Dumoulin said. “It’s fun. I’ve been skating on my own for a little bit now, but it’s good to finally get back with the guys and be able to skate with them.”
Dumoulin was injured when he took a slap shot to the face from New Jersey defenseman Andy Greene in the Penguins’ 5-2 win Dec. 27. He was ruled out for four to six weeks at the time and is now three weeks into his recovery.
“Obviously, that’s a big step that he’s joining the team in practice today,” Sullivan said. “It was in a limited capacity, but he’s certainly getting a lot closer. We’ll see how he goes. We’ll get him involved in a few more practices and the final step obviously is the full contact, and we’ll take it from there.”
Dumoulin said his jaw feels fine, but he is not yet medically cleared by the Penguins’ doctors to return to play. He will, though, travel with the team for upcoming road trips to Montreal and Carolina.
“It’s good to be able to practice today with the guys, but I don’t know if it’s a matter of getting enough practices in or just being cleared by the doctors,” he said. “I think it’s got to be a little bit of both. Obviously, I’m hoping the sooner the better, but I want to make sure that it’s fully healed.”
‘Weird game’
Even after a night to sleep on it, the Penguins’ wild 8-7 win against Washington Monday night doesn’t seem any less strange to those who took part in it.
“It was a weird game, for sure,” defenseman Ian Cole said. “Entertaining game for the fans, I’m sure. But not very entertaining for us or coaches.”
Goalie Matt Murray echoed that thought. While those in the stands and watching on TV (and probably even the forwards) enjoyed the back-and-forth contest, he did not.
“It’s not a fun game to be a part of as a goalie,” Murray said. “Everything is around the net. I’ll bet you almost every shot they had was a scoring chance.”
Penguins’ center Nick Bonino, who scored the sixth of 15 combined goals, struggled to recall any game he had been a part of with so much scoring.
“We scored nine one game [when I was] in Anaheim,” he said. “That was fun. The other team certainly didn’t score seven. It was definitely new.”
Fast and furious
The Penguins’ last game against Montreal, a backand-forth, 4-3 overtime victory on New Year’s Eve, was one of the most up-tempo games the team has played this year.
The teams combined for 81 shots, the third-highest total of any game the Penguins have played this season.
That won’t deter Sullivan from playing another uptempo game tonight.
“I think it’s about just playing a responsible game,” Sullivan said. “We’ve tried to distinguish between playing fast and getting in a track meet. We don’t want to be a team that trades chance for chance. We want to make sure that we’re playing fast, but we’re also playing a responsible game where we limit teams’ opportunities to counterattack on us, or we limit teams’ opportunities to generate speed against us.”
Gaunce recalled
The Penguins recalled defenseman Cameron Gaunce from their farm team in Wilkes-Barre and returned defenseman David Warsofsky to the Baby Penguins.
Gaunce, 26, was Colorado's second-round draft choice in 2008. He has two goals and six assists in 39 games with Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton this season.
Gaunce is 6 feet 1, 210 pounds and has appeared in 20 NHL games. He scored his only league goal against Marc-Andre Fleury of the Penguins Feb. 16, 2011, while Gaunce was with the Avalanche.