CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- When the Penguins returned to practice Tuesday morning, Patric Hornqvist was not on the ice with his teammates. However, he did practice on his own beforehand with Ty Hennes, the skills development coach at the Lemieux Sports Complex.
"He is making progress and the next step will be to join the team for practice and we hope that will be soon," Mike Sullivan said.
Hornqvist has been out the past 18 days and eight games with a lower body injury sustained Feb. 2 after taking an open-ice hit from the Capitals' Brooks Orpik:
With Teddy Blueger being returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Monday, it was believed that Hornqvist might return to practice today. Obviously that didn't happen, but the Penguins do have time. They do not play again until Friday, the first of back-to-back games at Carolina and at Florida.
In Hornqvist's absence, rookie Zach Aston-Reese has assumed the role as the net-front presence on the NHL's top power play. Aston-Reese has four goals in the past four games.
Since Hornqvist went down, the Penguins have won six of their past eight, including the past five in a row.
Also not practicing Monday was Tom Kuhnhackl, who has been out since Feb. 6 with an upper body injury. Justin Schultz, who missed the last two games with an illness, did take the ice.
"I just got sick, not much you can do about it, but I'm feeling better now," Schultz said.
• With three more days before their next game, the Penguins did not show lines or pairs during Tuesday’s practice. They spent the 45-minute-long session working on short area drills, complete with obstacles and circles painted on the ice to stickhandle on.
Sullivan wanted to give the players a break, saying, "It's a fine line between repetition and monotony." So, they had a fun practice with players whooping and hollering after every goal.
"I'm sure they're tired of listening to my voice, so when they get an opportunity here, somebody else (Hennes), it's productive," Sullivan said. "I thought it was a really productive day. I think it energizes them and I think at this time of year, one of the most important things is we have to stay energized. We thought this made sense based on the schedule."
• The Penguins will conduct off-ice workouts Wednesday with no media availability. They return to the ice for practice Thursday before departing for Raleigh.
• In the wake of the Devante Smith-Pelly incident in Chicago, I spoke with Ryan Reaves, one of the few black players in the NHL.