Rickard Rakell and Arturs Silovs were home from the Olympics and back on the ice practicing with the Penguins yesterday. Eric Karlsson took a day of extra rest after his return. And Sidney Crosby was still in Milan with his Canadian teammates, unable to play due to his injury suffered in the Olympic quarterfinals.
The Penguins continue preparations for the resumption of the season, which for them will be on Thursday at home against New Jersey. Penguins fans will be the first to see Jack Hughes in action back in the NHL after the Devils’ center scored the Golden Goal in Team USA’s overtime win over Crosby’s Team Canada yesterday.
Many of the Penguins gathered at PPG Paints Arena to watch the game together.
Penguins coach Dan Muse was thrilled by the victory for Team USA.
Muse knows how frustrated Crosby would have been watching the gold medal game rather than playing in it, especially as he sat in the locker room, fully dressed in his Team Canada uniform.
Crosby said after the game that he was “pretty close” to being able to play, but that after seeing the speed of the action by the two teams, he knew sitting out was the right decision.
Rakell says the Olympic experience for him was special, but he will probably appreciate it more when there has been some time to ease the pain of not winning a medal.
Eric Karlsson is expected back at practice today. Team USA, meanwhile, will land in Florida today rather than New York, as planned, because of the winter storm hitting the East Coast.
