CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- There's no such thing as incidental contact in hockey when a couple of big bodies cross skates and crash into the boards.
That happened between the Penguins' two enforcers, Ryan Reaves and Tom Sestito, when both were hurt early in the first scrimmage of training camp Friday morning at the Lemieux Sports Complex, as their "feet got tangled up a little," per Reaves, and both tumbled and plowed into the boards with enough of a thud it probably could have been heard out in the parking lot.
Reaves rose first while favoring his right arm, but he continued to participate. Sestito stayed down and needed assistance while favoring his left ankle, and he left for the locker room within minutes.
Reaves told DKPittsburghSports.com afterward, "I'm OK," and Sestito later limped out of the facility, telling our site, "I'll be fine."
What was odd about the collision is that both tried to not hit each other.
“I hate situations like that," Sestito said, "where it’s just not a real game and you do things you wouldn’t normally do."
INJURY UPDATE
• Patric Hornqvist (hand) will miss some of camp
• Tom Sestito (ankle), see above
[caption id="attachment_419708" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Daniel Sprong flips a pass to himself to break out of the defensive zone. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
THREE HIGHLIGHTS
• Daniel Sprong, the subject of our first daily prospect breakdown, was the standout of the camp's first scrimmage. He scored in the shootout but made his finest play -- captured above by our Matt Sunday -- in regulation: He jumped on a loose puck at the right defensive dot, flipped it away from danger and into free space near the left dot before flying down the left wing and finding Freddie Tiffels -- who also stood out -- for a one-timed chance. That didn’t score, but his follow-up did.
Overall, Sprong created space, moved well with and without the puck and, aside from a couple of defensive lapses, might have been the most dynamic player on the rink.
• Jake Guentzel manned left wing on Sidney Crosby's line -- Dominik Simon was on the right -- to offer a clear indication that he isn't yet about to be the third-line center, something Jim Rutherford strongly suggested earlier in the morning the organization hopes to avoid.
"I'm willing to do whatever it takes," Guentzel said. "Wherever they put me, I'm happy to be here."
Well ... let's just say that, in addition to our exclusive reporting last week that Guentzel would be much, much happier on the wing, he went out and demonstrated why: He scored his team's first two goals and was a force down low with the captain.
• Lukas Bengtsson, an undrafted 23-year-old limited to 16 AHL games last season by a rare condition called POTS syndrome that took nearly a year to diagnose, was among the most active and effective defensemen on the day, and that goes beyond his goal and assist.
LINES, PAIRINGS
For Team 1 in the scrimmage:
Guentzel-Crosby-Simon
Quinney-Di Pauli-Reaves
Hagelin-Smith-Sprong
Dumoulin-Bengtsson
Czuczman-Ruhwedel
Tinordi-Zink
For Team 2:
Aston-Reese-Malkin-Kessel
Sestito-Blueger-Kostopolous
Kuhnhackl-Dea-Tiffels
Pouliot-Schultz
Cole-Trotman
Hall-Taylor
THE VIDEO QUESTION
I asked Crosby about the urgency to enter this process with a wholly fresh mindset, and he didn't disappoint:
JUST FOR FUN
Kris Letang and Olli Maatta were the last ones off the rink. That's anything but an upset. They've done this for years, hanging out well beyond even the most eager of youngsters, flipping pucks back and forth, talking, generating breakouts, talking some more.
They usually come off together, but Letang's zeal to shake rust kept him out there that much longer.
"I'm not matching that guy," Maatta told me.
Even then, Letang's time alone wasn't complete until he flipped each loose puck on the rink into a bag. And when he finally came off, I jabbed him that I could have been waiting here all afternoon on him.
"No chance," he said. "I'd have given up in an hour."
OUR ANALYSIS
Matt Gajtka and Josh Yohe serve it up:
SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE
All free and open to the public:
• 9-9:45 a.m.: Team 2 practice (Rink 1), Team 3 practice (Rink 2)
• 10-10:45 a.m.: Team 2 vs. Team 3 scrimmage (Rink 1)
• 10:45-11:05 a.m.: Teams 2, 3 conditioning (Rinks 1, 2)
• 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Team 1 practice (Rink 1)
• 12:45-1:30 p.m.: Team 1 practice, conditioning (Rink 1)
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
[caption id="attachment_419716" align="alignnone" width="1000"]
Penguins training camp, Day 1, Cranberry Township, Pa., Sept. 15, 2017. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
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