Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from Tuesday's practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
1. Jarry returns to practice
Goaltender Tristan Jarry, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, took part in the session. He last played in Pittsburgh's 8-4 win over Buffalo on Thursday, May 6 and had not skated with the team until today.
Head coach Mike Sullivan has said that both Jarry and Casey DeSmith, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury and did not practice, should be available for Game 1 (the date and time for that is still TBD).
Meanwhile, forward Evan Rodrigues joined team practice for the first time after missing the last five games of the regular season with a lower-body injury and was a full participant.
Defenseman Mike Matheson, who missed the last four games of the regular season after being struck in the face by a puck, skated with his teammates for a second straight day after joining Monday's optional practice. He was also a full participant and wore a cage on his helmet.
And finally, winger Brandon Tanev - who missed the last 16 games of the regular season with an upper-body injury - continues to practice in a full capacity after rejoining them last week.
2. Full complement of skaters
Today's practice marked the first time this season the Penguins have had their full complement of skaters at their disposal, which is pretty remarkable to think about. It's something the team has been looking forward to all year long, and the timing couldn't be better with the playoffs fast approaching.
"It's always good to have guys come back," winger Kasperi Kapanen said. "Knock on wood, hopefully everybody stays healthy. When everybody's healthy, we've got a pretty stacked lineup, so it's looking good."
As Sullivan said, this lineup gives them the balance that they need to have success when the stakes are high. There is incredible depth down the middle with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jeff Carter and Teddy Blueger. There is a ton of speed on their wings, particularly on that right side with Bryan Rust, Kapanen and Tanev. And each line has a distinct identity in terms of how they're going to help the team win.
And with Matheson progressing towards a return, that means the six defensemen who had played together consistently since mid-March and had gelled together as a group will be reunited. Each pairing has great chemistry, complements each other well and knows their role and what they need to do in order to help the team have success.
"We're excited about the group that's assembled here," Sullivan said. "We think we have the makings of a pretty good hockey team. Now we've got to go out and put it together and earn it on the ice."
Here is the Penguins' workflow…
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Zucker-Malkin-Kapanen
McCann-Carter-Gaudreau
Aston-Reese-Blueger-Tanev
Dumoulin-Letang
Matheson-Ceci
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson and Marino alternated on the second power-play unit with McCann, Carter, Kapanen and Zucker. The first unit remained the same: Letang, Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel and Rust.
3. Penguins expecting big challenge against Islanders
The New York Islanders clinched the fourth spot in the East Division with their 3-2 overtime loss to Boston on Monday, which means they will play the first-place Penguins in Round 1.
"The Islanders are a really good team, we know that," Sullivan said. "We know it's going to be a big challenge. We've got a lot of respect for how good they are as a hockey team and we're going to have to have our best to have success."
The Penguins did have success against the Islanders during the regular season, ending up with a 6-2 record in their eight matchups.
"I think any time you play a team like the Islanders that is structured so well and they play so well defensively, it's always going to be kind of a playoff-type game," said Rust, who led the Penguins with five goals in the series.
"You got to have some patience, you got to do those little things, you got to pay attention to details because any little thing that could go wrong, any one mistake could end up in the back of your net. There aren't too many opportunities and aren't too many goals in games like that. I think for us, our ability to stay patient and to trust the process has been big."
Video: Rust speaks to the media
Their last meeting came back on March 29, and the Islanders made some roster moves in the time since - most notably acquiring forwards Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac from the Devils to help offset the loss of captain Anders Lee after he suffered a season-ending ACL injury earlier that month.
"They added some really good players," Rust said. "It's obviously never good when you see a guy like Lee go down. He's obviously a big player for them, but they've brought in a couple of guys that can do some good things. I think for us, we just got to kind of focus more on ourselves and what we've done in the past to be successful and what we can do moving forward to continue to be successful."
Full series storylines will be posted in the coming days on PittsburghPenguins.com.
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