Crosby leaves with lower-body injury in Penguins shootout win against Senators

OTTAWA — Sidney Crosby sustained a lower-body injury early in the second period for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-3 shootout win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

Crosby was on the ice for the start of the second period, but he went down the tunnel after just one shift with the game tied 1-1.

He had previously gone down the tunnel following his last shift of the first period after appearing to get his left leg tangled up. Crosby had one shot on goal in 6:39 of ice time.

“Still got to get some updates,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. “I got to talk to the medical staff some more. It’s lower body, but I don’t have any other updates for you now.”

The 38-year-old center recently missed 11 games with a lower-body injury he sustained during the second period of Team Canada’s 4-3 overtime win against Team Czechia in the quarterfinals at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 18. He did not play in the semifinals and a 2-1 overtime loss to Team USA in the gold medal game on Feb 22.

The Penguins captain returned to the lineup against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 18. Crosby, who was on a four-game point streak (one goal, four assists) since returning from the injury, leads Pittsburgh with 64 points (28 goals, 36 assists) in 61 games this season.

“When Sid leaves the game, we have two options,” said Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson, who had a goal and two assists in the win. “We can hang our heads and admit defeat, or everybody can just say to themselves that, ‘I’m going to do my absolute best every time I get out there.’ And I think we did that today. Not only myself, but everybody really chipped in.”

The Penguins (36-20-16), who moved into second place in the Metropolitan Division with the win, next play the Dallas Stars at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

“I really think that everybody hates seeing that happen, but at the same time, we’ve got to keep playing,” said Penguins forward Rickard Rakell, who had two goals and an assist. “And yeah, everybody definitely stepped up their game.”