Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte, each of whom missed several of the final games of the regular season due to injuries, proclaimed themselves ready for their team’s first game of the postseason against the rival Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
Both players were full participants during a practice session in Cranberry on Thursday with no limits on contact. Dewar and Lizotte each operated in their typical stations on the team’s fourth line along with Noel Acciari.
Lizotte, who was sporting a wrap on his right hand, missed the final 16 games of the regular season due to his injury. As for Dewar, he was sidelined for the last four contests due to an unspecified injury.
Coach Dan Muse pumped the brakes a bit as to their availability for Game 1 of the series, indicating the team’s medical staff has to offer final clearance.
Notes:
• The team’s lines and pairings during practice were:
59 Egor Chinakhov – 87 Sidney Crosby – 17 Bryan Rust
18 Tommy Novak – 67 Rickard Rakell – 71 Evgeni Malkin
25 Elmer Soderblom – 81 Ben Kindel – 39 Anthony Mantha
19 Connor Dewar – 46 Blake Lizotte – 55 Noel Acciari
28 Parker Wotherspoon – 65 Erik Karlsson
49 Sam Girard – 58 Kris Letang
5 Ryan Shea – 75 Connor Clifton
27 Ryan Graves – 3 Jack St. Ivany
• Forwards Justin Brazeau and Kevin Hayes operated as reserves.
• Rookie defensemen Jake Livanavage and Ilya Solovyov largely skated with a team staffer on an auxiliary rink due to the logistics of having so many players on the ice.
• The top power-play unit included Crosby, Karlsson, Malkin, Rakell and Rust. The second power-play unit involved Chinakhov, Kindel, Letang, Mantha and Novak.