Thanks to their trip to Sweden, the Penguins have played only two games in the last eleven days, but they return to action at PPG Paints Arena against the Minnesota Wild tonight and follow it up tomorrow night with another home game against Seattle. After that, the schedule gets very busy for coach Dan Muse and the Pens.
Muse says they’ve enjoyed the extra time off to work on their game, and they’ll be ready.
Muse says his team has a mix of old guys, young guys, and guys in between.
At practice yesterday, Muse worked the team on overtime three-on-threes and shootouts.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby says they will have to focus on the basics tonight to get into the flow of the game after the layoff.
Crosby says the extra time off gave them a chance to work on their breakouts, which were not good last Friday against Nashville but were much better in Sunday’s game.
Forward Philip Thomasino practiced with the Penguins after clearing waivers but not being assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The “injured ice” was pretty spare yesterday, with only defenseman Jack St. Ivany skating prior to practice. Tristan Jarry, Rickard Rakell, Justin Brazeau, and Noel Acciari all took the day off as part of their rehab programs.
Faceoff tonight is shortly after 7 o’clock. The pregame begins on 92.5 FM U92 is at 6.
