The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette indicates that Sidney Crosby skated with wingers Matt Cooke and Ruslan Fedotenko at practice Monday, while normal wingers Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz moved to a line with Jordan Staal. The other two lines had Craig Adams centering Chris Conner and Pascal Dupuis, and Mike Rupp centering Eric Godard and Chris Bourque.
"We lost a couple games, so that happens," Crosby said of the biggest overhaul of line combinations since the team solidified its lineup at the March trade deadline last season.
Also of note is that Kris Letang is going to miss about two weeks with a shoulder contusion sustained in that 5-0 smackdown by the Sharks. Evgeni Malkin is skating, but is not ready to return. Nothing new on Sergei Gonchar, who is recovering from a broken left wrist. He's likely a few weeks away or so from getting back in game action, but he is slated to get his cast off soon.
SEDIN ALMOST READY
The Vancouver Province reports that Daniel Sedin is targeting to return Thursday in Detroit or Saturday in Colorado. He fractured his left foot just over a month ago.
"I was pushing it pretty hard," he said of a long Sunday practice that was followed by a 20-minute bag skate. "That's the toughest practice you can get. A lot of twisting and turning. A lot of starts and stops. There's going to be some discomfort.
"I wouldn't say I'm sore, but it was better to get some treatment. It's more precautionary."
OVECHKIN THIS WEEKEND?
After Monday's practice, injured winger Alex Ovechkin told the Washington Post that he's no longer in pain and might be able to return to the lineup within the next week.
"I wish it was going to be tomorrow," said Ovechkin, who suffered a strain near his left shoulder eight days ago. "I need to make sure I'm good and my body feels good. Probably a week. We'll see."
GM George McPhee speculated that Ovechkin could return as soon as this weekend.
"We thought it might be one [week], might be two," McPhee said. "If it's a little more than that, it's acceptable. But it's not going to be four or five weeks."
Also in The Post: Mike Green returned to practice Monday after missing Saturday's game with an undisclosed upper-body injury.
"I feel good," said Green, who left Friday's game in Florida after a collision with a Panthers forward. "I wanted to play, but there was no point in rushing back. For me it's just being mobile. As long as I can move, I'm fine."
Alexander Semin left Monday's practice early after aggravating an injury, but he was back on the ice today. It's believed that Semin has been playing through a litany of injuries, which The Post speculates might have something to do with his recent decline in production. He's one of the most offensively gifted players in the game today, but he has a hard time shaking that injury bug on one level or another.
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"When I'm on the ice, I don't think so much about things around it. I just try to focus on the puck. Then it doesn't matter if I'm playing in Canada or Sweden or Afghanistan. I just focus on the puck and I don't think so much about anything else," Jonas Gustavsson told The Toronto Star.
"Now I have a chance to work with a good goalie coach and he can teach me all the basic angles and everything here. When I can handle that, everything is going to be better and I'll feel more confident."
SHARKS GETTING HEALTHIER
The San Jose Mercury News expects the Sharks to have forwards Devin Setoguchi and Ryan Vesce back in the lineup tonight against the Nashville Predators. Both have missed the past seven games after suffering leg injuries in a 4-3 victory over Atlanta on Oct. 24.
Setoguchi is expected to start on the first line with Dany Heatley and Joe Thornton, despite the fact that Vesce had taken that slot before the injuries.
"I feel that they will sort themselves out again," coach Todd McLellan said. "Does Seto play well enough to keep that spot? Does Vesce play better and he gets that spot? We have to play some games now and figure out where everybody's at."
DRURY CLOSE TO RETURNING?
The New York Post reports that after having accompanied the Rangers on a four-hour-plus flight home Sunday, Chris Drury rode the stationary bike yesterday; signs so good coach John Tortorella would not rule out the centre playing Thursday night against the Thrashers at the Garden.
"I don't think it's out of the question, no," said Tortorella. "He left before I got off the ice and I haven't talked to the trainers about that yet but I think he had a good day today.
"Obviously Dru has to go through the process [for] a head injury. We'll wait until Wednesday."
Brandon Dubinsky may be lost for up to six weeks with a broken bone in his right hand, which means the Rangers are shifting Vaclav Prospal back to centre on the top line. Artem Anisimov will be the pivot on L2, while Brian Boyle is on the third unit. Sean Avery and Christopher Higgins have also played the position in the past.
"You know me, I bounce people around anyway," Tortorella said. "You don't need four centres.
"That fourth line can be different people. I can bounce people around on different lines. We have a couple extra forwards, [Donald Brashear] is getting better. I don't expect any type of change with the personnel that is here right now."
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"Having played there, you want to win maybe a bit more," Emery told The Philadelphia Inquirer on getting ready to face the Ottawa Senators this Thursday. "But each game is equally important."
"I don't follow them that closely," he said. "I talk to a few guys there. I don't keep in touch with management or anything like that. It's just a team I used to play for."
LEGACE SIGNS WITH CANES
The Carolina Hurricanes have lost Cam Ward for around a month thanks to the leg injury sustained against Columbus power forward Rick Nash in a freak skate accident. So while they wait for their franchise goaltender to get healthy, the Canes are turning to Manny Legace to help bridge the gap. He was signed to a one-year deal and had been playing with the Chicago Wolves in the AHL and was sporting a 2-2-1 mark with a 3.21 GAA and .898 SV% with one shutout.
"He's a proven winner," coach Paul Maurice told The Raleigh News & Observer. "He's stopped a lot of pucks and is a veteran guy. He's been around the league long enough that he shouldn't have the normal jitters of a guy coming into this situation."
Don't count out Michael Leighton from taking some starts over the next month though.
"We've got lots of hockey here in the next month or so before we expect Cam's return," Maurice said. "There's going to be enough net for both guys, but clearly if either one of them gets on any kind of roll, we'll run him."
Carolina is currently last in the entire NHL with a 2-11-3 record.
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"I'm looking to improve on a lot of things I did (Monday night), but it was a good first game back," Jonathan Toews told the Chicago Tribune on his return against the Los Angeles Kings last night. He missed six games after sustaining a concussion. "It was nice to score a goal, so hopefully I can keep building on that and helping my linemates offensively a little bit more."
JSG ON THE WAY
After a nagging groin-muscle injury kept him out for more than two weeks, The Orange County Register reports that Jean-Sebastien Giguere figures to return to the lineup this week as the Ducks go on a four-game road trip.
"It seems like it took a long time, but I think it's for the better," Giguere said after Monday's practice.
"I was hoping that (the recovery) would be a little bit quicker, but I got it pretty good."
The Ducks have four games in six days, so while he'll begin his return backing up Jonas Hiller it probably won't be long before he's starting a game.
"I'm sure we're going to have to use Giguere here very shortly," Coach Randy Carlyle said. "We'll see how things go on Wednesday in New Jersey."
Hiller is 6-5-1 with a 2.76 GAA and .919 SV% with one shutout. JSG has yet to pick up his first win after three starts and is 0-2-1 with 3.65/ .895 splits.
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"Once the game starts, just going out and playing," explained Calgary captain Jarome Iginla to The Herald when asked what sparked a recent turnaround in his game. "I think I was thinking a little bit too much. You're thinking about where you're supposed to be, what you're supposed to do . . . you've got to get moving first. It feels more like 'playing' now. Fortunately, things are starting to come together."
KREJCI BACK TONIGHT
The Boston Globe notes that David Krejci, who had been sidelined with H1N1, is scheduled to return tonight when the Bruins play host to the defending Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden.
"It wasn't very good [last week] but I feel better now,'' said Krejci, who worked out off the ice Sunday.
"The last three days I didn't have any fever. I still had a little headache but I felt pretty good and I did a 20-minute bike ride back home and woke up this morning and I felt pretty good.''
How about Milan Lucic and Marc Savard?
The Globe reports that Lucic, who is recovering from a broken right index finger, skating in full gear with a puck for about 40 minutes before the team's workout. Centre Marc Savard (broken foot) remains sidelined.
"I guess they're getting better as scheduled, if I can put it that way,'' Julien said. "Both guys are progressing. With Marc, it's a little more delicate because it's a foot but once he gets the boot off and he's cleared, he can start skating and from there on in, hopefully, it will go fairly quick. Milan is obviously getting to the point where he's going to start handling some pucks, so they're both progressing as scheduled.''
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"I don't think Toby is the kind of player that thinks, 'Shoot first,'" Thrashers coach Craig Anderson recently told the Atlanta Journal Constitution of defenceman Tobias Enstrom. "I've been talking to him about it. He's got a pretty good shot. ... Sometimes it's a confidence thing. You learn from that experience. He's primarily a feeder and a disher. That's just the way he is. Sometimes it's very difficult to change the stripes on that zebra.
"He has to shoot sometimes in order to create space for other guys he's going to pass it to. If he's not a threat to shoot, they don't worry about him shooting. Obviously now, he's had a couple shots. I was [ticked] off at him five or six games ago. I said, 'Next time you cross the line, make sure [the puck] gets on net. I don't care how hard it is.' We scored a goal right off. It wasn't my genius. In order to make the pass from here to here to here, if he doesn't shoot once in a while, they won't respect him, so they will just back off."
DIPIETRO GOING BACK-TO-BACK
Rick DiPietro's slow comeback from injury should take another step forward today, according to The New York Post, when the goalie is scheduled to practice on consecutive days for the first time this season.
"After that, we'll see how he is [tomorrow]," Islanders coach Scott Gordon said of the goalie, who hasn't played since last year when he was limited to five games because of a surgically repaired knee.
Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron continue to share the workload for the Isles and although DiPietro is certainly making progress, there is still no real pubic timetable for a return to action.
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"Once we get those results back we'll have a better idea," Minnesota coach Todd Richards told The Star Tribune of winger Petr Sykora, who has been confirmed as having suffered a concussion over the weekend. Pierre-Marc Bouchard has not played since the opener October 3rd because of the same issue.
"Still, concussions are a touchy thing. Sometimes they clear up, other times they linger. So he'll be kind of a day-to-day thing, or week-to-week, or month-to-month however long it takes."
JVR, BRIERE UPDATES
The Philadelphia Inquirer notes that LW James van Riemsdyk (broken pinkie) could resume practice today and the Flyers hope he can play Thursday. He's currently tied with Colorado's Ryan O'Reilly for the rookie points lead with 14 each, although JVR has only played 12 games and O'Reilly is already at 18. Van Riemsdyk was injured when he was hit by Jeff Carter's shot Saturday. "If I had shot the puck, he'd be OK," coach John Stevens cracked.
Forward Danny Briere, sidelined with a strain below his right quadriceps, skated yesterday but probably won't be ready to play until Saturday at the earliest.