Injured Penguins winger Philip Tomasino rejoins club at practice in non-contact capacity

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Philip Tomasino, who did not play Saturday vs. the Toronto Maple leafs due to injury, rejoined the club for practice Monday in Cranberry.

Tomasino, who is nursing an unspecified upper-body injury, did so in a non-contact capacity.

Per coach Mike Sullivan, Tomasino’s status has not changed and remains day-to-day.

Acquired in a trade from the Nashville Predators at the end of November, Tomasino made an immediate impact upon entering the Penguins’ lineup.

Deployed on second-line center Evgeni Malkin’s line, Tomasino, 23, contributed three goals and an assist in five games played before suffering an injury mid-game Dec. 6 vs. the New York Rangers.

“Obviously, we’ve liked how he’s played since he’s come to Pittsburgh,” Sullivan said. “We like the chemistry he’s built with (Malkin) in the period of time that he’s been here. He’s helped us on the power play, on one of the units since he’s been here — he’s just fit in.

“The fact that he hasn’t had to step away from the team or even the ice, for that matter, for any length of time, is encouraging because we’d like to re-engage him sooner than later.”

Tomasino, a 6-foot, right-handed shot, is signed through the 2024-25 campaign at $825,000.

Lines, power-play

The Penguins utilized the following lines and power-play groupings during Monday’s practice:

67 Rickard Rakell - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust

10 Drew O’Connor - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 19 Cody Glass

8 Michael Bunting - 46 Blake Lizotte - 18 Jesse Puljujarvi

13 Kevin Hayes - 55 Noel Acciari - 72 Anthony Beauvillier

First power-play: Crosby, Rakell, Hayes, Grzelcyk, Letang

Second power-play: Malkin, Glass, Bunting, Rust, Karlsson