UNIONDALE, N.Y. – When he went crashing into the boards in the third period of Game 1 against the New York Islanders on Wednesday night, his availability for Game 2 wasn’t the first thing on the mind of Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Gudbranson.
He was more concerned with making sure his left foot was still attached.
“When it first happened, I thought I was going to turn around and my ankle was going to be facing a way it shouldn’t be,” Gudbranson said after morning skate Friday. “I definitely got lucky.”
Gudbranson suffered the injury when he got tied up with Islanders forward Anders Lee as they battled near the net and went awkwardly into the boards. Lee was penalized for boarding. Gudbranson said he didn’t have any public gripes about how the play went down.
“I think it was an unlucky play, to be honest with you,” Gudbranson said. “I was trying to box him out to get to the puck first. I was actually looking left to see what was coming that way when something took my legs out and I ended up in the wall like that. Just a little freaky play.”
Gudbranson returned to Game 1 after a short trip to the locker room, practiced without restrictions on Thursday and participated in Friday’s morning skate. Coach Mike Sullivan stopped just short of confirming Gudbranson would be in the lineup for Game 2.
“He looks great. He had a good practice yesterday,” Sullivan said before adding a caveat. “All our players are game-time decisions at this time of year.”
The personnel groupings at an optional morning skate did not give any indications about which six defensemen would dress for the Penguins on Friday night.
Brian Dumoulin, Kris Letang and Justin Schultz did not participate. Gudbranson, Marcus Pettersson, Olli Maatta and Jack Johnson came off the ice at roughly the same time.
Johnson was a healthy scratch for Game 1.
Chad Ruhwedel also took part in the skate Friday, joining the team on the ice for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury Feb. 26.
