CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Brian Dumoulin and Zach Aston-Reese were full participants in the Penguins' practice Monday at the Lemieux Sports Complex as the team prepares for their first-round Stanley Cup playoff matchup against the Islanders. Dumoulin has missed three games with a lower-body injury, Aston-Reese 13 games with a hip injury.
Both players are considered day-to-day, Mike Sullivan confirmed after practice.
Dumoulin was paired with Zach Trotman in practice, which does not currently bode well for a return for Game 1 Wednesday in Uniondale, N.Y.. Aston-Reese rotated with Teddy Blueger and Garrett Wilson on the fourth line.
"It was a good practice," Dumoulin said afterward. "I've been skating the last couple of days, so it was skate again. I'm just taking it day-by-day right now. But it's good to go through a full practice and be out there with them, and get ready for playoff mode."
Dumoulin said "we'll see" regarding his status for Game 1 on Wednesday, and added he is hopeful he'll be able to play.
"It was a good day, good to be back with the guys and skating finally," said Aston-Reese. "It's been kind of unlucky a little bit with injuries in the second-half of the year for me. I'm just focusing on getting healthy and staying healthy."
Aston-Reese noted that a benefit from all this time out of the lineup has been that he's been able to focus on his skating with Ty Hennes much more. He was not yet sure if he'll be available for Wednesday, adding that he'll return when he's sure that he is 100 percent ready, because if he comes back too early he'll be hurting himself and the team.
• The Penguins' used the following lines and pairings in practice. Bryan Rust and Jared McCann swapped lines, and the Phil Kessel-Evgeni Malkin pairing was broken up, with Kessel and Patric Hornqvist switching places.
Guentzel - Crosby - Rust
McCann - Malkin - Hornqvist
Simon - Bjugstad - Kessel
Blueger - Cullen - Wilson/Aston-Reese
Johnson - Letang
Maatta - Schultz
Pettersson - Gudbranson
Dumoulin - Trotman
• The Penguins used Sidney Crosby, Malkin, Hornqvist, Kessel, and Kris Letang on the top power-play unit. No surprises there. The second power-play unit featured Guentzel, Jared McCann, Nick Bjugstad, Justin Schultz, and Marcus Pettersson.
Sullivan believes that special-teams play will be especially important in the playoffs.
"Special teams potentially has the opportunity to be a difference in the game," he said. "I think our power play has been very good for us, our penalty kill has been good at times. Looking in the past, our penalty kill has been timely for us. I think those are critical opportunities on both sides of the special teams that help teams win games. I think we have a good power play because we have really good players. Those guys take ownership for the power play, and when they're locked in they're as good a power play as there is in the league. Our penalty-kill, we do our best to prepare them as best as we can and give them the strategies to have success, but it boils down to commitment and attention to detail. When those guys do it, they're very good as well. We're going to have to rely on them moving forward if we're going to have success."
• Chad Ruhwedel did not practice in any capacity with the team Monday. He's now missed 19 games with an upper-body injury, and has been skating on his own.
• The Penguins practice at 11 a.m. in Cranberry on Tuesday. The line combinations used then should give a better clue as to what the Penguins plan on using for Game 1.
• The Penguins moved the location of the big screen for home playoff games. More on that here.
• In East Meadow, N.Y., the Islanders used the flines in their Monday practice. Yes, that's Tom Kuhnhackl on the second line. He's played wing all throughout the bottom-9 during the season (and has at times been a healthy scratch and even saw some time in the AHL), and was bumped up to the second line during the final week of the regular season:
Lee - Barzal - Eberle
Bailey - Nelson - Kuhnhackl/Dal Colle
Beauvillier - Filppula - Komarov
Martin/Johnston - Cizikas - Clutterbuck
Leddy - Boychuk
Pelech - Pulock
Toews - Mayfield
Hickey - Sbisa/Seidenberg
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
[caption id="attachment_803311" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
Penguins practice, Cranberry, Pa., April 8, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
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