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Morning skate report: Pens vs. Wild

Jenn Menendez 8 years ago

The Penguins say they are ready to respond tonight against the Minnesota Wild after an 0-2 slide over the weekend that prompted a closed-door, players-only meeting.

Coach Mike Johnston said he’ll know his team is responding well if their game resembles last week’s win against the Montreal Canadiens. On that night, the club surged back to beat the top-ranked team in the NHL.

“We had two bad games on Friday Saturday. You heard the players, they take ownership for that, responsibility for it. We as coaches do as well,” said Johnston. “So now you’ve got to have a response. What type of response? I look back to the Montreal game.”

Of Note:

*It looks like Patric Hornqvist will be cleared to play against the Wild tonight, but there was no official word yet after morning skate.

“I haven’t talked to our trainer for sure but he looked good in our practice to me,” said Johnston.

Hornqvist left Saturday’s game in New Jersey during the second period. 

*In fact, sounds like all five players missing from practice yesterday will be available, but not certain until the lineup comes out later. Center’s Matt Cullen, Nick Bonino, winger Daniel Sprong and defenseman Rob Scuderi all missed practice on Monday.

“We had a lot of guys out for colds, for sickness, different things. We’ll get at tab when the trainers come back and give me an evaluation right after practice. It wasn’t something we though there were going to be several players out tonight. We should be fine with the players we have.”

*Could tonight be the night Adam Clendening gets into a game? Johnston indicated he’s been close, and it is important that he gets some game action at some point.