CRANBERRY TWP., Pa. — The Pittsburgh Penguins worked blue Friday, while Evgeni Malkin may have been green, but comments from coach Dan Muse indicated we shouldn’t expect the Penguins’ lines that were efficiently effective Thursday to stick around.
The simple news Friday, Malkin was absent from practice, but Muse said it was due to illness. However, both Sam Girard and Egor Chinakhov were also absent and remain out day-to-day.
Muse did not confirm Malkin would be available Saturday when the Penguins host the Nashville Predators, but neither did he rule it out.
Blue Daba Dee
In preparation for the coming Hometown Remix jerseys that the NHL is releasing at some point this season, most likely just in time for your Christmas shopping needs, the Penguins tipped their hand regarding the color scheme.
The Penguins’ pants were Navy blue with a wide blue stripe and yellow piping, while their helmets were a matte navy color.
Goalie Arturs Silovs had fetching new pads with sky-blue accents. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so we’ll reserve comment on the team’s choice of color scheme. Bear in mind, the Penguins never won anything except a Winter Classic in blue.
Lines?
Muse surprised this reporter when he downplayed the chemistry and connectivity of the lines Thursday night. More specifically, he downplayed any special connections formed, but rather steered toward the urgency of the situation.
After getting consistently walloped on the four-game road trip, Muse intimated he could have put any number of different concoctions on the ice and would have gotten similar results.
“I think you had a lot of pairs in there that have played together at different points. Maybe the lines have been a little different, but I don’t think it was (unique),” Muse said. “I think even though it might be a small sample size in some cases, there was a little bit of time together for at least some of them. I think it’s also where we’re at. I think these guys are hungry to get things on track, and so I think based on that road trip we just came off, I think you could have thrown any combination together, and these guys would have gone out there and played a really good game. I mean that. And that’s a credit to them in this locker room for being ready and also not being happy with the current record and coming off of that trip.”
The Penguins got contributions from new additions, such as Rutger McGroarty, who played his first game of the season, and return-to-the-lineup players such as Hendrix Lapierre, who had been a healthy scratch.
Those players were in the lineup because Bryan Rust and Ben Kindel were placed on injured reserve Thursday. Rust will be out for at least six weeks, while Kindel could resume skating as early as Sunday after his fainting episode on the team plane Tuesday.
The Penguins earned just their second regulation win of the season and the first in 10 games.
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