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Penguins will head to bubble with Sidney Crosby back as a full participant |
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Sidney Crosby has been missing from practice the past few days. It is not Covid related. He may not even be injured. The most probable cause for him missing practice is a tweak the team is being extra cautious about. Yesterday, he skated before the team’s practice. Today he did the same. The difference today is he jumped on with the team after his skate earlier.
No surprises here. Sam Lafferty and Evan Rodrigues return to being extras after splitting the duty of standing in for Crosby. The forwards are the strength of the team and the lines as currently constructed have proper balance. By all accounts Malkin and Zucker are playing well together in practice which gives Malkin a winger who can skate and handle the puck a little bit after losing Guentzel to the Crosby line. Conor Sheary has more pressure to perform because the balance of the lines depends on him reprising his role of being competent on the top line from a few years back. There is no Dominik Simon to provide a different option for that role anymore as Simon is out for six months with shoulder surgery.
As for the power play:
They need a right handed player on the left side so I assume that is what they are trying out with Rust. I have no problem with trying to see if it can work out because it is a hole that needs filling. There aren’t a lot of right handed options to be had on this roster to fill the old Kessel spot. I do not like the idea of Crosby or Malkin being there at all so hopefully it doesn’t come to that.
So far so good for the Penguins. Today was their last practice in Pittsburgh and now it is on to the bubble in Toronto. We could be on the path to playoff hockey in a little over a week which was not a given, but looks likely at the moment.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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