Bonino leaves Penguins practice after blocking shot

For the first time since the start of Penguins' training camp, skaters stood still on the ice Sunday morning at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex and waited for a teammate to indicate whether he was injured.

Center Nick Bonino crumpled to the ice after blocking a shot during an intrasquad scrimmage. After a couple of failed attempts, he managed to get back on his skates and slowly head to the dressing room.

Coach Mike Sullivan said the Penguins will keep an eye on Bonino's condition throughout the night and follow up Monday.

“I don't think it's anything serious,” Sullivan said. “It just hit him in an unfortunate spot.”

Until Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby return from the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto, there will be shortage of NHL-level centers for the Penguins. Crosby's Team Canada eliminated Malkin's Team Russia in a World Cup semifinal Saturday night, so the latter of the two franchise centers likely will return to Pittsburgh sometime this week. Crosby will spend the week playing in the tournament's best-of-three championship series.

Oskar Sundqvist and Matt Cullen have not practiced with the Penguins because of what coach Mike Sullivan classified as “precautionary” measures.

If Bonino becomes unavailable, the list of centers in camp who dressed for the Penguins a season ago dwindles to Eric Fehr and Kevin Porter.

“It's a weird feeling because of how much depth we've had, especially last year,” Fehr said. “But we'll get some bodies back soon hopefully and see how camp finishes up.

“There's some good young centermen here that'll probably jump in. I only played six or seven games at center all year last year, so it's interesting to get thrown into this mix. But it's nice to work on different parts of the game and keep everything sharp.”

Neither Fehr nor Porter is known as much of an offensive threat.

Porter won the Hobey Baker Award at Michigan in 2008 as the NCAA's best player but has tallied just 58 points (29 goals, 29 assists) in 251 NHL games. Until suffering a season-ending leg injury, he held a Penguins roster spot as a fourth-liner and penalty killer.

“In these first couple preseason games, if I get a little more ice time and be one of the older guys, one of the leaders, that'll be good,” Porter said. “And obviously I'll play with some pretty good players, so it should be interesting.”

Fehr has averaged more than 0.5 points per game just once in 11 NHL seasons. He scored eight goals and six assists in 55 games while handling a primarily defensive role with the Penguins last season.

“I love working on my offensive game,” Fehr said. “It's definitely something I feel I haven't lost yet but haven't been using as much as I'd like to. It's nice when you get into these kinds of games (at camp) where you can try to make some plays and open it up a little more.”

In the regular season, Fehr likely will be on a line with Cullen and Tom Kuhnhackl. But he skated beside Chris Kunitz and Reid Gardiner, a 20-year-old winger who scored 92 points for the Prince Albert Raiders last season in the Western Hockey League, during Saturday's scrimmage and collaborated with more scoring-oriented forwards Sunday.

He found the shared ice time with speedy younger wingers refreshing.

“I'm just impressed with all of the guys' abilities to really hang onto the puck,” Fehr said. “The game happens fast, and it's pretty easy to just chip the puck up the ice or use area passes. But I think a lot of the young guys have a lot of composure. They've really hung onto pucks and made some nice plays.”

Count Jake Guentzel among the Penguins prospects who fit that description and are most likely to potentially crack the NHL lineup if injuries mount.

The 2013 third-round draft pick, who turns 22 on Oct. 6, scored 14 points in 10 AHL playoff games last spring as a rookie with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. And he has proven himself capable of handling duties at center or on the wing during the rookie tournament in London, Ontario, and in training camp.

“I'm just trying to play fast, try to make quick plays and use my brain a little bit,” Guentzel said. “You never know what can happen (with the Penguins' lineup). You've just got to come out every day, show what you have and try to make an impact.”

Bill West is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at wwest@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BWest_Trib.