"Penguins center and captain Sidney Crosby has said he wanted more contact in practice for evaluation purposes, and he got quite a bit Wednesday.

Although he was not part of any huge collisions, Crosby was bumped and jostled repeatedly in a practice at Consol Energy Center that lasted 75 minutes, plus more time for Crosby and others who chose to stay on the ice longer.

The Penguins, taking advantage of a lull in their schedule, had one-on-one battles in front of the net and long, intense five-on-five, single-zone drills.

"He shows a great willingness to initiate and go to the net, look for that type of situation, whether it's one-on-one, two-on-one, three-on-two, whether he is expecting to have contact or not," coach Dan Bylsma said."