Injured players returning to action
NEWARK, N.J. — While Evgeni Malkin will be out “weekto-week” with a lower-body injury, the Penguins did share some more encouraging news Friday on the injury front.
Jason Zucker skated for the second consecutive day in Pittsburgh as he recovers from a lower-body injury that occurred Feb. 23 in Washington. On that night, he was skating to the point in the defensive zone when his skate collided with the skate of Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen. Zucker fell awkwardly in front of the Pittsburgh bench, appearing to favor his ankle or leg.
The nature of the injury made it tough for the Penguins to pinpoint any kind of a time frame for a return. But now, it appears the Penguins could be getting back one of their more important wingers, possibly before the end of the regular season.
Recently, new general manager Ron Hextall told the Post-Gazette that if they can get Zucker back, it will almost be like a trade deadline acquisition to add a spark to the lineup.
Before the injury, Zucker was skating on the Malkin line in a trio that also included Kasperi Kapanen. He logged 4 goals, 3 assists and a minus-5 rating in 17 games.
Typically, injured Penguins follow the same path back to game action. First, they skate individually for a period. Then, they rejoin the club in a non-contact jersey. That’s followed by a few full-contact practices before they finally take the final step on a game night.
So while Zucker still has plenty of progress to make before he’s back in action, he’s headed down the right path.
In other injury news, Jared McCann centered the second line Friday at practice. He’s a gametime decision for Saturday afternoon’s game in Newark. Defenseman Mark Friedman also practiciated in a full-contact capacity. Sullivan said he’s making progress from an upper-body injury.
Blue line back at full strength
Just as the Penguins forward corps enters one of its most-challenging injury stretches, the defense is finally healthy.
John Marino’s return to the lineup Thursday once again gave the Penguins their full complement of the six defensemen from their Game 1 roster.
“It feels good to have everybody back,” veteran defenseman Kris Letang said. “Johnny is obviously a really important player for our team. He plays a lot of minutes in a lot of situations. It’s real good to have him back in our lineup.”
Recently, the Penguins have been doing a much better job of keeping the puck out of their own net. The defensemen deserve some credit. But really, it’s a sixman job that includes the defensemen, the goalies and the forwards.
Through their first 10 games of March, the Penguins have allowed just 2 goals per game. That’s a stark turnaround from
the first 19 games of the season in which they allowed 3.4 goals per game.
Other than the sheer number of goals allowed, the quality vs. quantity of shots is the biggest difference.
At the start of the year, the Penguins weren’t giving up a large quantity of shots, but they were allowing a great number of highdanger opportunities. Lately, those stats have been flipped. The Penguins are welcoming low-danger shots from the perimeter, while cutting down on the quality of chances.
The game against Boston March 15 was a prime example. The Bruins had more than 40 shots. Yet, the Penguins produced more expected goals on 23 shots, according to Hockey Viz, than Boston did with almost twice as many attempts.
Sullivan explained that there are a number of details that go into this defensive approach and the recent improvements.
“When we track back into our coverage, we track back into the
scoring area,” he said. “We protect the slot. We stop and defend inside out from there. That involves all five players.”
“When the puck goes low-tohigh, we’ve got to do a better job with our box-outs and our seals so our goalies have better sight lines to see the puck. If we can’t box out and there’s already a player in front of the net, we’ve got to tie up sticks and be in a position to battle for rebounds.”
Softer schedule ahead
If there’s any silver lining for the suddenly injury-riddled Penguins, it’s that the schedule is softer the next couple of weeks. They play the Devils Saturday at Prudential Center and Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.
Of their next 18 games, the Penguins play the East Division’s three worst teams — Devils (seven), Sabres (four) and Rangers (2) — a total of 13 times.