SUNRISE, FLA. -- Jake Guentzel will return to the Penguins' lineup Thursday when the Penguins play the Panthers in Sunrise, Fla. at 7:08 p.m.
Guentzel tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 3 but was asymptomatic and has been skating with the team in a full capacity for several days now.
The game will be Guentzel's 300th career game.
Guentzel took line rushes in Wednesday's practice, with these being the combinations the Penguins used:
Jake Guentzel - Jeff Carter - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evan Rodrigues - Kasperi Kapanen
Brock McGinn - Teddy Blueger - Danton Heinen
Dominik Simon - Brian Boyle - Sam Lafferty
Guentzel took his place on the top line, shifting Danton Heinen down to the third line, which then shifted Dominik Simon down to the fourth line, bumping Drew O'Connor out of the configurations.
While what Guentzel adds to the lineup is obvious, it still makes for some tough decisions as far as what the rest of the lineup looks like, especially after such a strong, complete performance on Tuesday in Tampa.
"We're trying to put the best lineup on the ice that's going to give us the best chance to win," Sullivan said. "That's the question we're trying to answer. You know, Jake is an elite player. He's part of the core of this team. He's a guy that we know we're a better team when he's in our lineup for sure. But it's never an easy decision, especially after our team played as well as it did the other night to have to take somebody out of the lineup. That's the harder part of coaching, is having those types of conversations."
MORE FROM PREGAME
• Casey DeSmith will start in net.
• Mike Matheson, Sidney Crosby, and Zach Aston-Reese all skated Thursday morning.
"One of the things that we wanted to get Zach in just to prepare him for the game scenario is getting him in a little bit of a battle situation, the only thing he hasn't done at this point," Sullivan explained. "That's a different type of conditioning, we were able to get him into some battle stuff, down low with some of the players this morning. We'll see how he responds, but Zach is making really encouraging progress.
Matheson's status remains the same, day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
