COVID-19 deals Tanev another blow

The Penguins depleted forward corps will be forced to weather even more adversity, this time due to the pandemic.

Forwards Brandon Tanev and Mark Jankowski were placed on the NHL’s COVID19 protocol list on Saturday. The protocol is not only for players who test positive for the virus, but also for those who experience a high-risk close contact or an initial positive test that remains unconfirmed.

Tanev is still recovering from an upper-body injury that the team is classifying as day-to-day. He skated Saturdaymorning with skills coach Ty Hennes and injured thirdline center Teddy Blueger. Jankowski was absent from thegame-day skate.

The COVID-19 related absences, coupled with a long list of injuries, forced the Penguins to play the Islanders without half of their 12 regular forwards. The entire second line is wiped out and five of the topeight forwards are out.

The center depth, in particular, is being tested with Evgeni Malkin and Blueger also sidelined with injuries. Jared McCann already has been forced to show his versatility by skating in the middle ofthe second line.

“We’ve kind of got a mentality like the next man up,” McCann said. “We’ve had some guys who have come in and been awesome. [Radim Zohorna] scored last game in his first NHL game [on Thursday]. He was great for us.”

In Jankowski’s his absence, Frederick Gaudreau moved up to fill the hole in the middle as the third-line center. He skated between Colton Sceviour and Sam Lafferty to start the game.

Zohorna centered the fourthline.

The missing forwards also re-opened the door for Drew O’Connor. He was promoted off of the taxi squad and stepped into the lineup to play leftwing on the fourth line.

This is O’Connor’s first NHL game since Feb. 25. The 22-year-old has split time among the NHL, the taxi squad and Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton in his first professional season out of Dartmouth. In six AHL games, he scored three goals and two assists.

Gaudreau savors moment

Though he has played in fewer than 100 NHL games, Gaudreau has tasted almost everything the league has to offer.

He has scored goals. He has appeared in playoff games with the Nashville Predators. And, during the 2017 playoffs, came within a few wins of hoisting the Stanley Cup.

But after playing in all of his 55 games in the 2018-19 season with the Predators, the

Canadian forward was forced to take a step back. Last season, he spent all 42 with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL.

“My previous years in Nashville, it was a little bit hard on the confidence level,” Gaudreau said. “To get back to where I wanted to be as a hockey player and the confidence level and to feel the game, I had to go through a year like last year.”

The 27-year-old righty signed with the Penguins this offseason. He split time between the AHL and the taxi squad this season before cracking the lineup March 18 against the New Jersey Devils.

In his first five games with the Penguins, he notched two assists. Both of those points came in the past two games, including his beautiful play to set up Zach Aston-Reese for a short-handed-goal Wednesday ina win.

Coach Mike Sullivan praised Gaudreau’s courageous attitude on the penalty kill, his intelligence and his willingness to block shots.

“It’s been awesome just to step in the lineup,” Gaudreau said. “That’s all I worked for [in the AHL], to come back in this league and to be able to come back and feel good on the ice and feel the trust from my coaches and my teammates.”

McCann’s shot

Sullivan is fond of saying that injuries create opportunities. McCann certainly made the most of his on Thursday.

Kasperi Kapanen’s lowerbody injury thrust McCann into a role on the top powerplay unit. He cashed in twice with the man-advantage in last week’s win over the Buffalo Sabres, showing off a wrist shot that might be one of the team’s best. On a power play full of playmakers who might sometimes take more satisfaction in a pretty assist than a goal of their own, McCann brings a needed grip-it-and-rip-it mentality.

“When you get a chance to play with [Kris Letang] and Sid [Crosby] and Jake [Guentzel] and [Bryan] Rust, it kind of comes a little bit easy to be honest with you,” McCann said. “They’re so skilled that it opens up space for a lot of guys.”

Injury updates

Left winger Jason Zucker skated with the taxi squad and then stuck around Saturday to skate with the main group . He has not played since Feb. 23, when he sustained a lower-body injury the team said would keep him out longer-term. Sullivan said he’s “making really encouraging progress.”

Defenseman Mark Friedman also skated with the taxi squad as he works back from an upper-body injury.