Monday Morning Practice UPDATE

Reid McNeill was added to the WBS Penguins roster this morning.

A lot of news coming out of practice today at Coal Street so I'll list them below in bullet format:

• The Penguins added defenseman Reid McNeill from their ECHL affiliate in Wheeling. McNeill practiced with the team today at Coal Street. The move appears to be an insurance policy in case Mark Eaton's "tweak" injury prevents him from playing.

• Not sure how long McNeill will be in town as Pittsburgh re-assigned defenseman Joe Morrow back to Wilkes-Barre this morning. Morrow wasn't at WBS practice but I would expect he'll be back in town for tomorrow's game.

• The Penguins brought back another former player today, signing forward Chris Collins to a professional tryout contract (PTO). I spoke with him briefly after practice and he said he was glad to be back and excited to get back out there in front of Pens fans at Mohegan Sun Arena.

• Collins played for the AHL Penguins in the 2010-11 season, recording 34 points (13G-21A) in 77 games. So far this season, Collins has appeared in eight games with the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers and four games with the AHL's Springfield Falcons.

• Missing from practice today were forwards Phil Dupuis, Paul Thompson and Steve MacIntyre. Thompson and Dupuis have been out awhile, but MacIntyre didn't return for the third period in Norfolk on Saturday. Didn't get a chance to speak with head coach John Hynes today so I'll defer to Pens beat writer Jonathan Bombulie for an update on Big Mac's condition later today.

• Mark Eaton, who missed Saturday's game with what play-by-play announcer Tom Grace called a minor tweak injury, practiced in full today. 

• Today's practice ended with a shootout, with the last man standing having to be "mustache boy", which means no shaving the mustache until the end of the month. The final three were Beau Bennett, Dominik Uher and Bobby Farnham. Farnham and Bennett were the final two but Bennett scored and Farnham hit the post. So Farnham is your mustache boy for the month of February. 

The Penguins are back in action tomorrow night at home against another East Division foe in the Binghamton Senators, who are coming off a shootout loss to the Albany Devils.

In terms of standings, tomorrow is one of those proverbial "four point" games.  A Penguins regulation win cuts the Senators' division lead over them down to six points. A regulation loss extends the deficit to ten points.

Check back tomorrow night for live in-game updates on Twitter (@H_P_Hockey) and a recap of the night's events here on Highland Park Hockey shortly after the game.