As the puck dropped Tuesday in Anaheim, Harrison Brunicke was already working up a sweat. The 19-year-old pedaled furiously on an exercise bike near the visiting dressing room at Honda Center, the roars of a rowdy crowd coming down the hall.

Brunicke was a healthy scratch that night as the Penguins lost to the Ducks. Fellow teenager Ben Kindel would get the same treatment two nights later in Los Angeles.

Rookie coach Dan Muse stressed it was not due to their performance. Instead, it was part of a plan crafted by the coaches and Pittsburgh’s hockey operations staff.

The Penguins could have used Brunicke’s speed and his offensive assertiveness in their 4-3 loss to a Ducks team that had a bunch of talented youngsters in its lineup.

But they had both the long-term future of Brunicke and it

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