LAS VEGAS — The Penguins’ team plane might have seemed a bit different than usual during its latest cross-country flight.
Following Pittsburgh’s fifth loss in a row on Monday, the team flew from Boston to Las Vegas Tuesday morning in anticipation of its Thursday game against the Golden Knights. But the Penguins traveled without the likes of Josh Archibald and Tristan Jarry, both of whom remained in Pittsburgh due to their respective injuries. According to Sullivan, Archibald is currently rehabbing from the lower-body injury that has kept him out of the Penguins’ past six games.
While Archibald and Jarry will hang at home and miss the team’s road games against Vegas and the Arizona Coyotes, Pittsburgh could be gaining some reinforcements sooner rather than later.
Here’s the latest from the Penguins after their Wednesday morning practice at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
Petry partakes
Though he didn’t formally practice with the team during its roughly hour-long workout, Jeff Petry traveled with the Penguins and skated separately from the squad shortly after practice. Petry has not played since Dec. 10 and has been on long term injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 11 with an upper-body injury.
Petry will not be eligible to play against the Golden Knights, but assuming he gets cleared by the team’s medical staff, he would be an option on Jan. 8 against the Coyotes. In their last nine games without Petry, the Penguins have gone 3-6.
Fellow defenseman Kris Letang, however, did not travel to Las Vegas. Coach Mike Sullivan said Letang is back in Montreal with his family following the death of his father, Claude Fouquet. Sullivan does not know yet if Letang will join the team during its current road trip.
“We’re obviously trying to be respectful of Tanger’s time and his space,” Sullivan said.
Traveling without Tristan
Since Jarry didn’t join the team out to Las Vegas, Casey DeSmith has become the de facto No. 1 netminder for the time being. He’ll presumably be backed up by Dustin Tokarski, who was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Tuesday.
Tokarski played in 29 games last year for the Buffalo Sabres, recording a 3.27 goals against average to go with 10 wins. At a time where the team is dealing with injuries across the board, Sullivan is glad to have a veteran like the 33-year-old Tokarski, who has played in 76 career NHL games, to turn to.
“I think his experience level as that third goalie is invaluable for us, for this very situation,” Sullivan said. “We feel confident that he’s a guy that we know we can put in the net and he’s going to give us a chance to win.”
DeSmith, meanwhile, believes he’s played his best hockey when he’s been thrust into more prominent roles like the one he’ll be filling for the foreseeable future.
“I think it’s a little easier, to be honest with you. I think you get into the flow of things,” DeSmith said. “More game action makes you more comfortable. You can start to build on game after game. I think there’s a lot of good aspects to it. Obviously, it’s a heavier workload, but that’s something that I feel confident that I can handle.”
Around the rink
Ryan Poehling practiced on Wednesday in a full-contact jersey, as did every other Penguins player who participated. Sullivan said Poehling, who missed the Winter Classic, is still day-to-day with his injury. Against the Bruins on Jan. 2, the Penguins skated with 11 forwards and seven defenseman with Poehling sidelined.
Poehling sat out three games last month with an upper-body injury but returned on Dec. 30 to get a little under eight minutes of ice time in a loss to the New Jersey Devils.
“Taking it day-by-day, trying to progress as much as I can,” Poehling said of his return from injury. “I felt decent today, so just build on that I guess."
Marcus Pettersson missed Wednesday’s practice due to a planned maintenance day. Pettersson has played in all 37 of the Penguins’ games this season and has logged the most ice time of any non-goalie on the team with 769 minutes on the year.
Against the Bruins, Pettersson’s 25:56 of ice time came just one second shy of his season-high, which was set in an overtime defeat at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 22.
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1.
First Published: January 4, 2023, 11:44 p.m.
