UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Brian Dumoulin and Erik Gudbranson were both full participants in the Penguins' practice at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday afternoon.
Both players were banged up in Wednesday's Game 1 loss to the Islanders. Dumoulin was shaken up early after a hard hit from Brock Nelson in the corner, and missed part of the first period. Gudbranson had his legs knocked out from under him by Anders Lee in the third period, sending him crashing hard into the boards. He also returned after some time in the locker room.
Thursday was a lengthy but relatively light practice. Neither player showed any signs of having any lingering issues from Game 1.
The Penguins did not run any line rushes. Both power play units remained the same during some special teams work, while different players rotated in with the penalty-killing units.
Players began taking the ice for practice nearly a half an hour before the scheduled 1 p.m. start time. The first order of business was a drill that saw players switch their stick to their non-dominant hand:
Most players looked awkward using their opposite hand. Others, like Evgeni Malkin, managed to look nearly as strong as they do with their dominant hand.
Following practice, Mike Sullivan said the reason for the drill was just to boost team morale and keep the guys having fun:
Defensemen Olli Maatta, Kris Letang, Marcus Pettersson, Jack Johnson, and Zach Trotman stayed on the ice together after the formal practice ended, working on shooting. Trotman, Johnson, and Teddy Blueger were the last players to leave ice much later.
• The Islanders conducted a full practice at their nearby facility in East Meadow, N.Y. Barry Trotz’s drills showed all lines and pairs intact from Game 1 with one exception: Third-line left winger Anthony Beauvillier was given what Trotz called “a maintenance day,” and his spot next to Valtteri Filppula and Leo Komarov was taken by Michael Dal Colle.
• Mat Barzal, New York’s top player, on the state of the Penguins: “Losing one game’s not going to kill them. They’ve been in worse situations, I’m sure, and come back and won. For us, it’s taking it day by day. We had a good practice today. Got dialed in. Went over some video and whatnot. Obviously, we’re going to try to bring the same intensity Friday.”
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins practice, Uniondale, N.Y., April 11, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS