Over the weekend the Penguins picked up another victory, this time at home, against the Anaheim Ducks. Trevor Zegras and his teammates were unable to score a goal and Casey DeSmith earned a shutout, his second quality start in a row. Zegras’ offensive creativity was shunned by a dinosaur TV person after his amazing alley-oop play a few nights prior. All I know is that the Ducks looked like they were trying to get some “honest… goals against the Penguins and came up with none. One of those fancy goals probably would have been welcomed…
With the Penguins on a winning streak they will continue to move forward with the same lineup.
After winning four straight games, it's no surprise the Penguins are sticking with the same workflow:
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) December 13, 2021
Rodrigues-Crosby-Kapanen
Zucker-Carter-Heinen
Aston-Reese--Blueger-McGinn
O’Connor-Boyle-Simon
Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson-Ruhwedel
This doesn’t come as a surprise. The more interesting part of practice was…
Geno Malkin just worked extensively with the second power play and looked really good. I can’t imagine his return to the lineup is all that far away.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) December 13, 2021
The Penguins have surpassed the expectations I had for them to start the year without Malkin. They navigated the many injuries they’ve had to impact players. Their place in the standings is very manageable. And now they will be returning one of their very best players. A player who can’t help but improve what has been an unimpressive power play so far this season.
The Penguins have Wednesday and Thursday before they play the Sabres on Friday. I think if Malkin gets a contact practice in it is very reasonable to think he will play on Friday.
The other two impact forwards were on the ice today as well
Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel skated on their own before Penguins practice, while Evgeni Malkin - who is still non-contact - skated on the other sheet of ice. He just joined his teammates for their session, which is starting now.
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) December 13, 2021
Maybe, just maybe, the Penguins will see their full complement of forwards at some point this season.
They will host the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow night.
Thanks for reading!