CRANBERRY, Pa. -- There's a lot to love about a perfect, cross-continental road trip, but not necessarily the aftermath.
A few of the Penguins I surveyed Monday at the Lemieux Sports Complex described themselves as dragging from the long flight home the previous night from Vancouver. That drag can come in many forms, but, speaking from experience, it's typically too much sleep rather than not enough. The range I picked up from surveying the room was roughly eight hours, although Jake Guentzel went "10 hours, maybe all day, I can't even remember."
Yeah, it's like that.
Which is undoubtedly why Mike Sullivan's practice on this afternoon -- as in, after noon -- pretty much put the boys through their paces. Nothing too systemic or strategy-based. Just churn, churn, churn, to get rid of those "airplane legs," as the hockey coaches call them.
That's one challenge, maybe the biggest, the Penguins will face tonight against the Islanders at PPG Paints Arena. Certainly in the first few minutes, if not the full period.
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