CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Wearing a yellow full-contact jersey, Derick Brassard stepped onto the ice and took a few cautious crossovers around the center ice circle. Then, without hesitation, he took off down ice.
Brassard is back.
He returned to practice in full on Monday morning at the Lemieux Sports Complex as the Penguins prepare to take on the Flyers in their first-round playoff matchup beginning Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena.
Brassard, the Penguins' biggest trade deadline acquisition, missed the final five games of the regular season after suffering a groin injury March 27 against Detroit. He had been skating on his own since Friday but had yet to practice before Monday.
"Feel pretty good," Brassard said afterward. "Been a long week and a half or so but, yeah, felt pretty good out there. Been working hard to be ready for the playoffs. We'll see what's going to happen."
The hope is that Brassard will be ready for Game 1 on Wednesday and there's no reason to believe that won't happen.
"Derick had a good practice today, he participated fully," Mike Sullivan said. "We'll see how he responds and make decisions accordingly."
Since being acquired from Ottawa, he has three goals and five assists for eight points in 14 games. Before being injured, Brassard had recorded points in six straight games.
• The Penguins practiced with the following lines and pairs:
Guentzel - Crosby - Rust
Hagelin - Malkin - Hornqvist
Sheary - Brassard - Kessel
Aston-Reese - Sheahan - Kuhnhackl/Jooris
Dumoulin - Letang
Maatta - Schultz
Oleksiak - Ruhwedel
• No changes here: Justin Schultz continues to man the point on the first power play over Kris Letang.
Malkin - Crosby - Hornqvist
Kessel - Schultz
• The second power play unit welcomed back a familiar face:
Guentzel - Brassard - Sheary
Maatta - Letang
• Dominik Simon and Matt Hunwick practiced but did not take part in rushes.
• Carter Rowney did not take the ice Monday. He's been out since March 15 with an upper body injury.
• There was one scary moment during the brisk, closed-to-the-public, 45-minute session when Sidney Crosby was struck in the lower leg by a shot during power play drills. He was down momentarily but got back up smiling. He skated it off and returned quickly.
• The team announced the big screen, a playoff staple for a decade, will return outside PPG Paints Arena. The screen will be located near the Peoples Gate at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Washington Place. There will also be other fan activities outside the arena, including a DJ and face painters. Fans can also pick up complimentary yard signs at all Pittsburgh area Dick’s Sporting Goods while supplies last.
• The "gold out" is also back. The team announced it will distribute gold t-shirts and towels to all fans in attendance for all home games.
QUOTABLE
“We’re all over 30 years old now. We’re all supposed to be mature. Whatever it was, it was ... in the moment, emotional. We have a different team. Different experience. Different coaching staff. Everything is different. We don’t even look at that." -- Letang, on the difference between the Penguins now and in 2012 when they lost to the Flyers.
“It’s a terrible tragedy. Its hard to imagine what those kids, their families, the entire community is going through. We’re certainly thinking about them.” — Crosby, on the tragic bus accident involving the Humboldt Broncos, a Saskatchewan junior hockey team. Fifteen people were killed.
BY THE NUMBERS
10/1: The Penguins' odds to win the Stanley Cup, per Bovada. That is the sixth-best odds and third-best among Eastern Conference teams behind the Bruins (11/2) and Lightning (6/1).
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins practice, UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, April 9, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS