CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Another day, another forward down.
Brandon Tanev's status is "week-to-week" because of an upper-body injury sustained Saturday in the Penguins' 7-5 loss to the Bruins in Boston, Mike Sullivan disclosed after Tanev missed practice Monday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
Tanev only played 1:50 in the first period Saturday with a short average shift length of 22 seconds. Almost 12 minutes between his fourth and fifth shifts. Nothing was immediately evident as to how he was hurt.
This video won't help:
This is Tanev's nine-second shift, his fourth shift in the first period. He was on the bench for almost 12 minutes after, came out for the last 20 seconds of the period. pic.twitter.com/mgzRBZsX1J
— Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) April 5, 2021
On the significantly brighter side, two other key players, Tristan Jarry and Teddy Blueger, were full participants in practice again and looked -- and spoke -- as if they're ready to return soon. In Jarry's case, specifically, that could be the Penguins' next game, Tuesday night against the Rangers in New York.
Jarry's been out since March 29, when he was pulled during the first intermission of a 2-1 victory over the Islanders at PPG Paints Arena with an upper-body injury. No one divulged Monday what that injury was, but Jarry acknowledged, "I think it was just more precautionary than anything. They didn't want it to get any worse. It was the right time and moment to do it. It was something the staff decided and I was OK with it."
If there are any remaining negative effects, they weren't evident in the 45-minute practice Monday. Jarry looked sharp.
"I'm back to 100%," he said. "I feel really good out there. Being able to work with Buck and the coaching staff, I think it will translate to my game."
The reference was to Mike Buckley, the goaltending coach.
Blueger's been out since March 15 with an upper-body injury. He returned to practice this past Friday and, on this day, participated in two sessions, first with the taxi squad, then, after a 40-minute breather, with the main group.
After which, per his nature, he stayed out an additional half-hour working on one-timers with Evan Rodrigues.
Still, his status sounded less certain for Tuesday than Jarry's.
“I think it’s been pretty steady progress, heading in the right direction," Blueger said. "It's great to be back out there with the guys and practicing with the full team. I do feel pretty good out there.”
It also could be seen as indicative of his status that he didn't take line rushes at center, much less with a more common set of linemates.
The full lines and pairings:
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Zucker-McCann-Rodrigues
Aston-Reese-Gaudreau-Lafferty
Zohorna/Blueger-Jankowski-Sceviour
Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Ceci-Matheson
Friedman-Ruhwedel
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• There was no sign of either Evgeni Malkin or Kasperi Kapanen. Sullivan reiterated that both are rehabbing and "still progressing" and that neither is skating yet.
• Mark Friedman, a reserve defenseman out with an upper-body injury since March 4, resumed practicing with the main group.
• Radim Zohorna, added to the taxi squad early Monday along with Drew O'Connor, was the only one of the two to practice with the main group.
• Maxime Lagace was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, yet another strong indicator Jarry will return. Casey DeSmith and Emil Larmi are the other two goaltenders in the fold, and the team's required to carry three.
• Jared McCann took a hard tumble into the end boards on a drill halfway through practice. He stayed down for about half a minute, skated slowly to the bench -- upon Sidney Crosby's urging -- and waited a couple more minutes there before returning to full participation.
• Sullivan said after practice that the Penguins have received no advisements from the NHL regarding the Bruins' Jaroslav Halak contracting COVID-19. Halak was the goaltender who beat them Saturday. "We have not heard anything from the league as to how that might affect us," Sullivan said. Boston's announcement regarding Halak, delivered by Bruce Cassidy, came about two-thirds of the way through the Penguins' practice.
• Sullivan expressed awareness of the Canucks' extraordinary situation with COVID-19 -- 16 players and four coaches are known to have contracted it -- and said he's cited that in "regular reminders" to his players about staying safe.
• The team's expected to fly to New York later Monday to complete its six-game, 11-day run of road games.