Penguins/NHL
Southpointe — Pittsburgh Penguins star center Evgeni Malkin is participating fully in the Penguins practice this afternoon. Malkin has missed the past two games with a bruised foot.
Despite playing in back-to-back games, head coach Dan Bylsma is putting his team through a full practice.
Team sources indicate Malkin is on track to return to the lineup Saturday afternoon against the Carolina Hurricanes.div>
With Malkin returning to the lineup, it appears Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis will remain on the top line with Sidney Crosby.
Evgeni Malkin centered Alex Ponikarovsky and Ruslan Fedotenko in today’s practice.
Although there have been indications that the coaching staff wants to get the Cooke-Staal-Kennedy unit back together and playing to their ability heading into the playoffs, In practice today, Bylsma experimented with a third line of Matt Cooke – Jordan Staal and Bill Guerin.
Michael Rupp – Craig Adams – Tyler Kennedy worked together extensively as a line.
Max Talbot was the extra forward during line rushes. Appears he’s going to be a healthy scratch for the second straight game.
