The Penguins on Wednesday had a better idea of a timeline for the injured Jeff Petry ... as well as an update for an injured forward, too.
Mike Sullivan said after Wednesday's practice at the Lemieux Complex that Petry would be sidelined "longer term" for an upper-body injury he suffered in the Penguins' game against the Sabres on Saturday. Petry appeared to suffer an injury to his wrist, hand or arm area after a hit late in the game:
Petry wasn't the only absence from practice -- Jason Zucker was absent, too. Sullivan said that Zucker is "week-to-week" with a lower-body injury and would not be traveling on the Penguins' upcoming road trip to Sunrise, Fla. and Raleigh, N.C. as a result.
Zucker left toward the end of the second period of Monday's game against the Stars after seemingly taking a shot to the foot and could be seen limping down the tunnel after:
He returned for the third period and finished the game.
"We feel for Zuck," Sullivan said. "He's played extremely well for us this year. He's finally put a string of games together where he's been in the lineup for a number of games. It's been a struggle since he's been a Penguin just keeping him healthy. We're hopeful we're not going to lose him too long here."
The good news, at least, is that Sullivan said that "neither guy requires surgery at this point.”
It was Chad Ruhwedel that got back into the lineup on Monday in Petry's absence. Wednesday's line combinations saw Danton Heinen, who has been a healthy scratch for five of the Penguins' last seven games, slot into Zucker's spot on the left wing of the second line.
The moves the Penguins made late Tuesday night have two call ups from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton waiting in the wings for their opportunity to get back into the lineup, too.
The Penguins on Tuesday put Petry on long-term injured reserve, giving them cap relief on his $6.25 million cap hit. They used that relief to recall forward Drew O'Connor and defenseman Mark Friedman from Wilkes-Barre.
Both O'Connor and Friedman participated in Wednesday's practice, but it doesn't look like they'll be getting into the lineup just yet. They skated as an extra fourth defense pairing during five-on-five work, and rotated in with the second penalty-killing unit during the special teams portion of practice.
There's no doubt that both deserve to be here, though.
"They've both played really well," Sullivan said on the play of both players in Wilkes-Bare as of late. "They've been two of their better players. They've played extremely well. Their game has been consistent, and that's an important aspect of it. Both of them, from talking to (head coach J.D. Forrest) and his staff down there, they were very complementary of both guys."
This is the second recall of the season for Friedman, who was on the NHL roster from Nov. 11-13 as an extra defenseman and didn't get into any games.
It's pretty clear just how excited Friedman is to be back. He was the first skater on the ice for practice and was one of the last guys off at the end. He's a ball of energy during practices, and was smiling and joking around with the staff at the start. He'd encourage teammates with stick taps when it wasn't his turn in the penalty-killing work, and he'd show more intensity than most when it was his turn to take drills.
"It feels awesome," Friedman told me of being back. "I missed the guys, it's a great atmosphere to be in, just a whole bunch of fun to be around. It's always nice coming back, for sure. I missed this place."
Friedman has spent this season moving between the top two defense pairings in Wilkes-Barre, playing both his natural right side and his off left side at times. He was most recently on the left side of the top pairing alongside Taylor Fedun, with Ty Smith moving down to the second pairing. He has a goal and four assists in his 19 AHL games, playing the same physical brand of hockey he's known for:
"I feel really good," he told me of his play as of late. "Everything that they've asked me to do up here I've been really focusing on down there. I feel obviously it's been going good enough to get the call, and I just need to never be satisfied with wherever I'm at. I just want to keep working at every little thing to get back to this level."
Those "little things" that the coaching staff has wanted to see him improve upon are his gap control and his joining the rush, what Friedman called "things that can contribute at the NHL level."
This start of the season has been the longest stretch Friedman has spent in the AHL since the 2019-20 season, when Friedman was with the Flyers' affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He'd obviously much rather be in the NHL, but he's been able to view this experience as a positive.
"I wouldn't say it's frustrating at all," he said of his situation. "It's nice going down there and playing a crap-ton of minutes in pretty much every situation. The confidence definitely, definitely adds to it for sure and helps when you're coming back up here."
Sullivan said that Friedman is "always in the conversation" for getting into the lineup.
"Frieds is a very good player," Sullivan said. "He's a real mobile guy, his skating is one of his biggest strengths. He defends really hard. He's good penalty-killer. He brings a little edge to his game. He has the ability to move the puck. ... I think the games and the minutes that he's playing in Wilkes-Barre this year is really beneficial for a player like Frieds. But having said that, we know he's an NHL-caliber defenseman."
PENGUINS
Drew O'Connor
This is the second recall of the year for O'Connor, who actually got into a handful of games on his last stint in the NHL. He appeared in the Penguins' first three games at the start of November, playing two games as third-line center in place of an injured Jeff Carter then shifting to fourth-line left wing for the last game.
O'Connor feels like his game is in a good place now to get into some games and find success this time.
"I feel like it's been going pretty well the last couple of weeks," O'Connor told me after practice. "I feel like I'm playing with a little more confidence and feeling pretty good on the ice. So it's nice to be back here."
"Pretty well" is a humble undersell for O'Connor's play lately. He has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his last two games alone, bringing him to eight goals and 14 assists in 20 games this season. It's the first time he's been over a point-per-game in his AHL career.
"I feel like I'm just trying to play the same way I always play," O'Connor said of what has led to that recent success. "Just be responsible on both sides of the puck and create my offense that way. I think my line has been playing well there with (Drake Caggiula and Alex Nylander) the last few games. The whole team, I think we just had a positive environment the last the last little while. It's been a lot of fun."
O'Connor has some versatility when it comes to where he might slot into the lineup. He's capable of playing both center and wing, and played both during his earlier stint in Pittsburgh this season. During training camp Sullivan expressed a preference for O'Connor at wing at the NHL level, but O'Connor has played exclusively center this year in Wilkes-Barre.
"I feel like I probably played more wing here, more center in Wilkes," O'Connor said. "It's just kind of how it's worked out. I feel like I have that ability to play both. I don't think it really changes based on where I'm playing, I could play either center or wing at either level."
One of the big parts of O'Connor's game in which Sullivan spoke of wanting to see improvement was on the penalty-kill. O'Connor had experience killing penalties in college at Dartmouth, then not much in his rookie professional season given that he started right in the NHL. He started killing penalties more frequently in Wilkes-Barre last season, and feels like he's really grown in that regard over the course of the last year.
"I think that since I went down the last time, I just tried to focus on the details a lot more, and just what the plan is against each team," he said. "It changes a bit game-to-game. I think just being really dialed in on those details is something that's helped me down there. I think I've gotten better at it recently down there and I think that can help me here as well."
With Petry being on long-term injured reserve "longer-term," the Penguins will have the opportunity for the time being to keep Friedman and O'Connor on the NHL roster. It's only a matter of time before they get back into the lineup, and both seem to be in a place where they'll be able to contribute when that time comes.
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Elsewhere, Ty Smith missed practice in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with an illness on Wednesday, the second practice in a row that he missed with an illness. I'd imagine that was at least a contributing factor in deciding who got the recall on defense. Friedman being right-handed, Smith being left-handed was also presumably a big factor, given that Petry is right-handed.
• With the exceptions of Petry and Zucker, everyone was out there for practice, including emergency backup goaltender Mike Chiasson working as a third goaltender.
• The Penguins used these lines and pairings in practice, with Danton Heinen filling in for Zucker being the only change:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Danton Heinen - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Ryan Poehling - Teddy Blueger - Josh Archibald
Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin - Jan Rutta
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
Drew O'Connor - Mark Friedman worked as an extra defense pairing
• The only change to the power play units from last game was Heinen replacing Zucker on the second unit. The top unit was Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Rickard Rakell, the second unit was P.O Joseph, Kasperi Kapanen, Bryan Rust, Carter and Heinen.
• Sullivan said that Heinen has handled the experience of being a healthy scratch "really well."
"He's a good pro," Sullivan said. "I think he understands, him and I have had a number of conversations surrounding his situation. We believe in him, we know he's a good player, and we know he's going to get in the lineup and he's going to be a big part of this team. It's his job to play hockey and control what he can, and he's got to trust that we're going to do our very best as a coaching staff to put him and the team in the best position to have success. Danton's a really good player, he has been a very good player for us in his time here in Pittsburgh. We expect him to go in the lineup and do what he does to help us win games."
• Skaters wore their gold Winter Classic helmets and pants, and both Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith were breaking in their new sets of pads. DeSmith wore his Winter Classic helmet, Jarry's hasn't arrived yet.
• Yes, Crosby still has his mustache. It's going on two full weeks now post-Movember.
• Remember the Survey Says two weeks ago on which teammate players would trust the least to drive their car? Friedman heard he was the popular answer for it and offered me his response. I'll save that for Friday Insider.
