Pittsburgh Penguins rookie defenseman Owen Pickering was absent from practice Thursday in Cranberry because of an unspecified illness. He was scratched from a 5-4 home win against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday for the same reason.
After Thursday’s practice, coach Mike Sullivan indicated Pickering is still being evaluated, and it was uncertain if he would travel with the team for a road contest against the Boston Bruins on Friday.
In four NHL games this season, the left-handed Pickering has one assist while averaging 14 minutes, 22 seconds of ice time per contest.
Notes:
• The Penguins’ lines and pairings in practice were:
67 Rickard Rakell - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust
8 Michael Bunting - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 53 Philip Tomasino
72 Anthony Beauvillier - 46 Blake Lizotte - 10 Drew O’Connor
83 Matt Nieto - 55 Noel Acciari - 13 Kevin Hayes
24 Matt Grzelcyk - 58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson - 65 Erik Karlsson
5 Ryan Shea/27 Ryan Graves - 3 Jack St. Ivany
• The first power-play group included Crosby, Karlsson, Malkin, Rakell and Rust. The second unit involved Bunting, Grzelcyk, Hayes, Letang and Tomasino.
• Forwards Jesse Puljujarvi and Cody Glass skated as extras. Glass is designated to injured reserve because of a concussion.
