WASHINGTON -- The update on Evan Rodrigues provided on Friday is a positive one, given how bad his injury looked in Thursday's overtime win over the Capitals.
Rodrigues was felled by a shot from Mike Matheson that struck him somewhere in the ankle area in the first period, and Rodrigues was visibly in a lot of pain on the ice:
Rodrigues tried taking a shift later in the period, but immediately gestured to the bench and got back off the ice after only making it a few feet off the bench.
Mike Sullivan said after Friday's optional practice in Washington that Rodrigues is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
"We'll update you each day with respect to Evan," Sullivan added.
"He's been huge," Tristan Jarry said of what Rodrigues has meant to the team this season. "He's been putting up points for us and I think he's been putting up some big goals. I think the timely goals that he's got and just being able to plug in down the lineup, playing center or wing, he's done a great job. Whether it's on the power play or the penalty kill, he's been a game-changer for us. I think he's done a great job up to this point."
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• The session was closed to media due to local building regulations, so I can't provide a full list of who participated in the optional skate or what they did.
• Sullivan did divulge that Evgeni Malkin and Brandon Tanev skated today and are "making progress."
"At this point, their status has not changed," Sullivan said. "When that happens, we'll let you guys know."
• Jarry was asked what he was doing around the time the Penguins' 15-year postseason appearance streak began.
"Watching them, I guess," he smiled. "I was still pretty young there, so I guess watching them on TV."