Slowly but surely the Penguins injured birds are returning to the waddle. First Evgeni Malkin, then Max Talbot and Sergei Gonchar...and finally tonight, Brooks Orpik.

Orpik, who was cleared for contact earlier in the week, has been practicing with the team and is ready for action. There was a slight scare that his comeback was derailed yesterday when he left practice early, but it turned out to be nothing more than a minor cut.

The team also practiced without Sidney Crosby, which sent shockwaves rippling through Penguins Nation. It turns out that the team had just held him out of practice for what iss being called a "maintainance day." It wouldn't be shocking to hear that Crosby is nursing some sort of minor injury, as many players are dealing with somthing at this point of the season. It is worth noting that the team didn't arrive in Atlanta until 2:30am yesterday morning and were scheduled to practice at roughly 11:00am. I found it newsworthy that more players didn't miss yesterday's workout.

The injury news should continue to get better over the next week or two, as both Kris Letang and Tyler Kennedy seem to be getting closer to making their respective returns. Letang has been skatinng with a red no contact jersey and Kennedy is making progress.

The team's actions again point to the fact that they know some folks are coming off of the shelf, as they have re-assigned two defensemen over the past two days. First Chris Lee was sent back to Wilkes Barre-Scranton and then Nate Guenin. It will be interesting to see if either Ben Lovejoy or Deryk Engelland is able to stick with the team as it gets healthier, as both have played very well during their recalls...especially Lovejoy. Lovejoy has played the way the team had hoped he would have during training camp. I for one, am pretty happy for him. He is a player who holds himself pretty accountable, so it is nice to see some success coming his way.

It will be interesting to see how the team responds in Atlanta this evening, especially when considering their third period collapse in Ottawa. The Atlanta game would almost certainly equal a victory under normal circumstances, but the Thrashers have been very hot as of late and have posted a 6-3-1 record in their last ten games. Though the underrated Rich Peverly is leading the Thrashers in scoring, Ilya Kovalchuck is rounding into form and has posted 11 points (4G-7A) in his last four games. He has long been a Penguins killer and I am sure he will be looking to add to that stat total this evening.

Kovalchuck isn't the only Russian star lighting it up in Atlanta, as a couple of new countrymen are doing pretty well for themselves in the A T L. Nik Antropov and Max Afinogenov have both become big time players for the Thrash...Antropov in the assist department and Afinogenov by averaging over a point per game. The Trashers also have a couple of young stars worth keeping an eye on in Bryan Little and 2009 first round pick Evander Kane.

Marc Andre Fleury is expected to make his return to the net after being chased in Ottawa Thursday evening, while Ondrej Pavelec is expected to go for Atlanta.

Stay tuned for more post game...

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