NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The NHL's labor agreement guarantees all teams three full days off for Christmas, and the Penguins, by virtue of having wound up in Western Canada before the break, parlayed that into five full days off.
Still wasn't enough, apparently.
Patric Hornqvist was back on the ice Friday morning at Bridgestone Arena, partaking in the game-day skate, but was relegated to a mythical fifth line and won't play in the game tonight against the Predators, Mike Sullivan confirmed, adding, "He's obviously joined the team in a full capacity, he's been skating for a while now, he's had contact ... he's getting close to being a coach's decision."
That was at least something. Not so much for the rest of the injury updates:
• Sidney Crosby, coming off core surgery, remained in Pittsburgh, continuing to work on the ice with Ty Hennes, the Penguins' skills coach, and there was no significant update on his status. Sullivan: "Sid's making progress." He declined to get into detail or offer any timeline.
• Nick Bjugstad, also coming off core surgery, resumed skating for the first time today, also with Hennes. "That's obviously a progression," Sullivan said.
• Brian Dumoulin and Justin Schultz, both out with lower-body injuries, have not resumed skating.
Which will leave all the forward lines and defense pairings no different than when we last saw the Penguins in Vancouver:
Guentzel-Malkin-Rust
Kahun-McCann-Galchenyuk
Aston-Reese-Blueger-Tanev
Simon-Blandisi-Lafferty
Johnson-Letang
Riikola-Marino
Pettersson-Ruhwedel
All the same special teams, too.
The greatest challenge, then, it would seem, is shaking off any holiday rust. Though most players found free ice over those five days, there's no substitute for being with the team and executing formal drills. Add into it that the NHL's break mandates no travel, so the team's charter flight arrived this morning in Nashville International Airport, and the bus brought the team right to the arena.
"I think it'll be fine," Jared McCann was telling me. "It's pretty much the same situation for everyone."
"It was good," Sullivan said of the brisk, extended skate. "I think guys are excited to be back on the ice. It's nice sometimes to get away from the game a little bit and just re-energize. I could sense it on the ice."
Also from the skate:
• Tristan Jarry was the first goaltender off the ice and will start tonight. There was no indication toward a starter for the second half of the home-and-home with the Predators tomorrow night at PPG Paints Arena, though precedent would strongly suggest Sullivan will turn to Matt Murray.
• The Predators will turn to veteran Pekka Rinne, meaning they'll probably use Juuse Saros tomorrow.
• Nashville's won four of its past five games, and the lone exception was an overtime loss. Sullivan called the Predators "one of the league's hottest teams, but they're also among the healthiest. With Viktor Arvidson having been back the past two games following a back injury, they're at 100 percent.
Their lines and pairings in the skate:
Jarnkrok-Johansen-Arvidsson
Forsberg-Duchene-Granlund
Grimaldi-Turris-Smith
Sissons-Bonino-Watson
Josi-Ellis
Ekholm-Fabbro
Hamhuis-Irwin
• Before the skate, Brandon Tanev appeared so eager to get going after the break that, while his teammates wait on the bench for the Zamboni to finish cleaning the ice, he leaped right out there for a twirl.
• Thought some might enjoy this, too:
Just your routine Jack Johnson top-shelf snipe over Tristan Jarry’s blocker. #DKPS #Penguins #LetsGoPens #Preds #PITvsNSH pic.twitter.com/eY1fxPZBpv
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) December 27, 2019
• Hockey season's almost back again.
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