Brandon Tanev plays the game at two speeds: Full and Warp.
A coach could put him with a statue and a shrub and still have an energy line.
"He's called 'Turbo' for a reason," frequent linemate Zach Aston-Reese said Thursday. "He's a spark plug. It's hard to contain his speed, when he's going."
But while there's no question the Penguins would have been happy to clear a spot in their lineup for Tanev, who participated in their game-day skate Thursday, it's far from certain that he'll be back in uniform before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin.
He did not take part in line rushes at the skate, which makes it highly unlikely that Tanev will play against Buffalo tonight at 7:08 at PPG Paints Arena.
With the regular-season finale set for Saturday at 3:08 p.m., Tanev, who has missed the past 15 games, is running out of chances to get into one before the postseason arrives.
Nonetheless, Mike Sullivan said his return will not be rushed.
"We'd obviously like (injured) guys to get into games, if they have an opportunity, before the playoffs," he said. "But there are also circumstances where guys are still in vulnerable positions, and you don't want to put them in those types of positions. We want to make sure that we go into the playoffs with the most potentially healthy group that we can."
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• Aston-Reese, on the mayhem at Madison Square Garden between the New York Rangers and Washington Wednesday night: "That was super-crazy, a line brawl at the start. It's kind of old-school hockey. I think guys respect what happened. There was an incident the game before, and the Rangers responded. I think that game played out how it was supposed to play out."
• The Penguins are guaranteed of finishing no lower than third in the East Division if they win tonight. If they win both of their upcoming games against the Sabres, they will be assured of home-ice advantage for at least Round 1 of the playoffs, because while Boston could tie them in points by winning its final four games, the Penguins would have a 29-28 edge in regulation victories, the first tiebreaker.
• Frederick Gaudreau, on linemates Jeff Carter and Jared McCann: "Those two guys are really unbelievable players."
• Tristan Jarry, as expected, will get the start in goal.
• Sullivan said injured defenseman Mike Matheson, who was struck in the face by a puck last Saturday, worked out on the ice with skills coach Ty Hennes before the game-day skate. Neither Casey DeSmith nor Evan Rodrigues skated.
• The Penguins used these personnel combinations -- the same as those in their 7-3 victory in Philadelphia Tuesday -- during the skate:
Jake Guentzel–Sidney Crosby–Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker–Evgeni Malkin–Kasperi Kapanen
Jared McCann–Jeff Carter–Freddy Gaudreau
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger–Colton Sceviour
Brian Dumoulin–Kris Letang
Mark Friedman–Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson–John Marino
(Also, Juuso Riikola–Chad Ruhwedel)
