Penguins Practice: Sullivan Loudly Scolds; Puustinen on Waivers

CRANBERRY, Twp — A day after a positive, uplifting coach Mike Sullivan ran the Pittsburgh Penguins practice at the UPMC Lemieux Facility, the angry version of Sullivan made an appearance.

Following a botched power play/penalty killing drill, Sullivan’s voice boomed throughout the facility. His anger was directed at the second penalty kill unit and the defensemen who wandered away from the net, allowing the Penguins’ second power play unit an uncontested path to the net from the left corner.

Sullivan quickly bore in on the second PK unit, skating from his center ice position toward the defensemen skating off the ice.

“You play defense!” was part of the verbal spanking, which continued for several sentences with heavy bass and full volume.

Before Sullivan commenced more special teams drills on the other side of the ice for PP1 and PK1, he skated back to the bench for a second bite at the apple, and he did not use a pleasant or encouraging tone.

The tone of the practice quickly turned somber as players recalibrated.

One player didn’t take the scolding too hard, telling PHN that Sullivan needed to get his point across and no one’s feelings were hurt; it was nothing more.

Later in the practice, assistant coach David Quinn stopped power play drills and demanded improvements in a few key principles of taking what the coaches call good ice.

It was the most demonstrative Sullivan has been in practice this season. It was the first time Quinn had asserted himself in the same way.

Valtteri Puustinen on Waivers

The Penguins put forward Valtteri Puustinen on waivers on Tuesday afternoon. Assuming he clears waivers, which is not a sure thing, he could be sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

Puustinen, 25, has dressed for 10 of the Penguins’ 23 games. He has one goal, one assist.

Penguins Practice Lines

With Philip Tomasino participating in his first practice with the Penguins, the lines and pairings looked like this at practice:

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Anthony Beauvillier-Evgeni Malkin-Philip Tomasino

Michael Bunting-Blake Lizotte-Drew O’Connor

Matt Nieto-Noel Acciari-Kevin Hayes

Own Pickering-Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea-Jack St. Ivany

Ryan Graves-Matt Grzelcyk