Penguins Practice Notes: Players Shave In Preparation For Yotes

BREAKING NEWS: The Pittsburgh Penguins players in scoring droughts have shaved. 

Forward Jeff Carter got a haircut and is now clean-shaven, Jason Zucker’s beard got all trimmed up, and Teddy Blueger and Kasperi Kapanen each got a haircut.

Ok, back to the big news. The Penguins will be without defenseman Kris Letang tonight against the Arizona Coyotes. Letang is still out with a lower-body injury and still in Montreal with his family after his father’s death. Head coach Mike Sullivan said that the team is respectful of the situation, giving him the space he needs. 

The practice lines remained the same as the game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Here are the lines 

Penguins Lines:

Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Jason Zucker – Evgeni Malkin – Rickard Rakell

Danton Heinen – Jeff Carter – Kasperi Kapanen

Brock McGinn – Teddy Blueger – Drew O’Connor

Defense:

Marcus Pettersson – Jan Rutta

Brian Dumoulin – Ty Smith

P.O Joseph – Chad Ruhwedel

Goalies:

Casey DeSmith

Dustin Tokarski

On the power play, the Penguins flipped forwards Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust, putting Rakell onto the first power-play unit while Rust dropped back to the second power-play unit. 

It was a very active practice with a lot of work being done. One player who stood out among several people was Kasperi Kapanen. Kapanen reportedly looked fast and at game pace for most of the practice. He played around 15 minutes in the Penguins’ loss versus Vegas, 

The Penguins will play their first game at Mullet Arena tonight. The 5,000-seat arena was initially made as a college arena. Several Penguins, including Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust, played college hockey. 


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Nik Shermeto

PT ‘23 | 🇺🇸/🇨🇦 | Penguins writer for Inside The Rink | Thoughts are my own.

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