Kapanen 'didn't miss a beat' in return to lineup taken at PPG Paints Arena (Penguins)

JEANINE LEECH / GETTY

Kasperi Kapanen scores on Devils goaltender Aaron Dell in the second period on Thursday.

When Kasperi Kapanen took part in his first full practice on Wednesday after missing the previous 13 games with a foot injury, it seemed unreasonable to expect that he'd be in the lineup as soon as Thursday night against the Devils.

That one full practice was all it took, though, and Kapanen was back in the lineup when the Penguins beat the Devils 5-1 at PPG Paints Arena.

I asked Kapanen how he felt conditioning-wise after the game considering the circumstances.

"Really good," he said. "Like you said, I only had one practice. But regardless, I felt really good. I felt fresh. I thought my legs were good. The coaches did a good job of not playing me as much. It always takes some time, I feel like, to get into the rhythm of things. But I was just really excited to be back out there."

Like Kapanen alluded to, the coaching staff was strategic in his deployment in an effort to ease him back into the lineup. He began on the fourth line alongside Mark Jankowski and Colton Sceviour, and didn't see any time on special teams. He played a total of 13:11 in the game, and as the game went on saw shifts with different linemates, including the top line at times.

"I think his conditioning was decent," Mike Sullivan said of Kapanen after the game. "We know he's got a little bit of a ways to go there. You notice it late in shifts and things of that nature, and just recovering when he gets caught out there for an extended shift. I tried to give him a little bit more time to recover before his next one, things like that. I thought his overall game was really good."

Although Kapanen is still working back up to his normal level of conditioning after so much time off, he didn't have any trouble making an impact in the game.

He picked up a point near the end of the first period, the secondary assist on Cody Ceci's goal. The puck popped out into the open after a battle along the boards, and Kapanen picked it up and passed it to Brian Dumoulin, who then set up Ceci for the goal.

Midway through the second period, Kapanen put his speed to use and got a goal of his own, flying into the offensive zone then beating Aaron Dell with a five-hole shot.

"It felt pretty good, I'm not going to lie," Kapanen said of that goal. "I saw the play developing, and (Zach Aston-Reese and Teddy Blueger) made a great play, gave it to me with speed. The D-man was kind of standing still there, I thought I'd try take it wide and try that quick shot five-hole. It worked this time."

He had that jump in his step from his very first shift in the game:

"I thought he had a strong game," Sullivan said. "He gets a great scoring chance on the very first shift, he almost scored on the first shift."

Kapanen continued to show flashes of his speed throughout the game, like this zone entry in the third period:

"His speed is so noticeable," Sullivan said. "He just backs teams off with his speed through the neutral zone. He's got a great shot. He's a good playmaker, I think that might even fly under the radar. But he makes plays, he sees the ice pretty well, and he makes us bigger and stronger. He has such an impact on our overall team game."

The speed, naturally, is what his teammates pointed to first when discussing Kapanen's impact.

"I thought he played really well," Sidney Crosby said of Kapanen's game. "The speed was pretty evident right from the start. He got a really good look early in the game, then on his goal he used his speed wide again. It was great to have him back in the lineup and fun to see him out there."

Half of Kapanen's ice time came with Aston-Reese and Blueger on the third line.

"It's huge," Blueger said of Kapanen's return. "He's obviously a great player. I thought he didn't miss a beat, he was great out there. He obviously played with a lot of speed, possessed the puck really well. He's fun to play with. I thought he was great."

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