OTTAWA -- Derick Brassard's first order of business tonight, he says, will be to take a few pain-free strides. Maybe touch the puck a few times to get re-acclimated to having the disk on his stick.
After that?
"Get the puck to Phil as much as I can," Brassard was telling me with a smile after Saturday's morning skate at Canadian Tire Centre where the Penguins will take on the Ottawa Senators tonight.
While Sullivan was saying that Brassard will be a game-time decision, the center cut right to the chase.
"In the lineup tonight," he declared without hesitation.
Not only is Brassard in the lineup, he's playing against his former team, the one he helped to take to within a Chris Kunitz OT goal to an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in the spring of 2017. It's also just across the Ottawa River from where he grew up in Hull, Quebec.
Of course, having also played on the Blue Jackets and Rangers, facing a former team is nothing new to him.
"The toughest thing for me was being on the Senators and playing against New York in the playoffs," he said. "It's always been a little bit weird to play your old friends, well, they're still my friends but, you know, my former team. You just have put everything aside and focus on playing. We're in a tough stretch right now, so we have a lot more things to worry about. I'm going to try and do my best to play well tonight."
With Sidney Crosby out, he'll likely center the Penguins' second line between Kessel and Jake Guentzel.
Guentzel said it's not up to Brassard to singlehandedly pull the Penguins out of their current tailspin, which has seen them drop seven of their last eight.
"I think it's up to everyone," Guentzel was saying. "We all know we need to be better. We're getting chances. Pucks just aren't bouncing for us right now. If we keep working and keep shooting he puck, they'll go in."
THE ESSENTIALS
THE INJURIES
• Penguins: Sidney Crosby, center, will miss his second straight game with an upper body injury sustained Tuesday vs. the Devils. Justin Schultz, defenseman, is expected to miss four months after fracturing his leg Oct. 13 in Montreal.
• Senators: Jean-Gabriel Pageau, center, is on IR and will likely miss the rest of the season with a torn Achilles. Ben Harpur, defenseman, was placed on IR on Oct. 27 with an undisclosed injury.
THE SKATE
• Despite giving up four goals on the first 12 shots he faced, all of them on Tampa Bay power plays, Matt Murray will make his second straight start. It'll be his first consecutive starts since Nov. 3 and 5, losses to the Maple Leafs and Devils.
Murray's .853 save percentage currently ranks 59th in the NHL while his 3.90 goals-against average is 60th.
Sullivan doesn't think there's anything technically wrong with his No. 1 goalie, it's just been his consistency. That, he says, is like most everyone else on his team.
"He's not different than a lot of guys," he said. "Goalies go through this. What were trying to do as a coaching staff is help him through the process as best we can."
• Tonight will be the 400th game as a head coach for Sullivan. He spent 164 of those games with the Bruins and 236 with the Penguins. In addition to two Stanley Cup championships, he has an overall record of 207-129-47-16 (137-73-25 in Pittsburgh).
Sullivan called coaching in the NHL a "humbling experience," but says he doesn't know if he would have done much differently.
"What I would say is that I'm very different than I was before my first coaching experience," he said. "I think we all learn through our experiences. I try to stay true to myself through this whole process. I try to be straight forward and honest with all our players and be respectful at the same time. This is not an easy business. It's not an easy job to be a coach in the NHL, but I don't take a single day for granted."
• Crosby did make the trip to Ottawa with his teammates and even took part in the skate but, again, will not play.
• Juuso Riikola and Daniel Sprong will be the healthy scratches. It'll be the fifth straight game that Sprong sits and third for Riikola.
• Garrett Wilson made the trip but was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre to make room for Brassard. Wilson went pointless in four games in his first NHL action in three seasons.
THE OTHER SIDE
• On Monday the Penguins will get their first look at Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 overall pick in June's draft. Tonight, they get their first look at Brady Tkachuk, the fourth overall pick.
While the Sabres are happy with what they've seen from Dahlin and the Hurricanes with Andrei Svechnikov and the Canadiens with Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the Senators have to be thrilled with what they've seen from Tkachuk.
Before the season there was speculation that he might stay at Boston University for another year, but the decision to turn pro looks to be the right one so far.
Ottawa's first line left winger is averaging a point per game with eight points (four goals and four assists) in eight games. On Thursday, Tkachuk won over the hearts of his teammates and fans by sticking up for veteran center Mark Stone after he took a hard hit from Detroit's Justin Abdelkader. Tkachuk immediately dropped the gloves and got the better of the fight.
“I just thought it was a high hit and especially on my landlord (Stone)," the 18-year-old told reporters. "That’s me paying rent.”
Sullivan wasn't surprised to see it. It's just what the Tkachuk boys of Melrose, Mass., do.
During his playing days with the Coyotes, Sullivan was a teammate of Keith Tkachuk, the father of Flames star Matthew Tkachuk and Brady. Like Sullivan, Brady is also a BU product.
Brady Tkachuk told me Saturday that Sullivan and Keith Tkachuk remain good friends and that he's met the Penguins coach on more than a few occasions. Keith was supposed to attend tonight's game but was snowed in at the family house in St. Louis.
Sullivan says he remembers Matthew in particular as a "toddler running around the dressing room chasing a hockey ball."
"I think they all have elements of Keith's game," Sullivan was saying. "He was certainly a dominant player when I was his teammate in Phoenix. He was one of the premier power forwards in the league at the time. He had a certain edge or nastiness to him that I think he's passed on to his children, and I think that helps them to be the players that they are. "
• Guy Boucher's assessment of the Penguins with Crosby is that they're "very stacked." The Senators' coach's assessment of the Penguins sans-Crosby is that they are "stacked."
• Despite not taking part in the morning skate, Craig Anderson will indeed get the start in goal. Boucher said that he leaves the decision up to the goalie and that it's worked well in keeping him fresh.
• Zack Smith continues to wear full facial protection (aka, a birdcage) after returning from a recent facial injury.
• On hand for the Senators' skate were a couple hundred area youth hockey coaches who were taking part in a coaching clinic.
• Ottawa's power play is 9-for-28 in the last eight games.
THE COMBINATIONS
• Here's an educated guess on the lines and combinations, based on what was shown in practice Friday:
Pearson -- Malkin -- Hornqvist
Guentzel -- Brassard -- Kessel
Simon -- Grant -- Rust
Sheahan -- Cullen -- Aston-Reese
Johnson - Letang
Dumoulin - Ruhwedel
Maatta - Oleksiak
• The Senators' lineup for tonight:
Tkachuk -- White -- Stone
Boedker -- Duchene -- Batherson
Dzingel -- Tierney -- Ryan
Paajarvi -- Smith -- Pyatt
Chabot -- Demelo
Lajoie -- Ceci
Borowiecki -- Wideman
THE SCHEDULE
Faceoff tonight is at 7:15 p.m. at Canadian Tire Centre. The Penguins have a scheduled off day on Sunday. They'll host the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena.
THE COVERAGE
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