OTTAWA \u2014 The Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 big names can\u2019t stay healthy, and the biggest of them all left late in the first period of a crucial game in Ottawa.<\/p>\n
Sidney Crosby, at the conclusion of a shift against the Senators, skated off the ice and immediately departed for the Penguins\u2019 dressing room. Though he did return for a single shift in the second period, the team announced shortly after that he would not return. Crosby appeared to be favoring his right leg on his way to the dressing room.<\/p>\n
This was only Crosby\u2019s fifth game since returning after a monthlong absence because of an injury in the quarterfinals of the Milan Cortina Olympics in February. Crosby\u2019s injury in the Olympics was a Grade 2 to the MCL on his left knee.<\/p>\n
Crosby has produced 5 points in five games since returning to the lineup. For the season, Crosby, 38, has produced 64 points in 61 games.<\/p>\n
The Penguins were already playing in Ottawa without Evgeni Malkin, who is missing his second consecutive game with a hand injury. Pittsburgh entered action Thursday night 1 point clear of a playoff spot, with a number of other teams directly on their tail.<\/p>\n
Coach Dan Muse confirmed that Crosby is dealing with a lower-body injury following the game, but didn\u2019t offer specifics.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill have to get some updates,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to talk to the staff some more. Lower body. But I don\u2019t have any other update.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crosby was walking around the locker room, dressed in a suit and tie, during the third period and overtime. He walked past the media following the game, on his way to the team bus, and didn\u2019t appear to be limping.<\/p>\n
The Penguins obviously hope their captain is back soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously not something you want to see,\u201d Erik Karlsson said. \u201cHopefully he is fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Penguins were able to enhance their level of play with Crosby out of the lineup and ultimately beat the Senators in a shootout 4-3. It was perhaps their biggest win of the season and came without contributions from Crosby or Malkin.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s everybody (stepping up),\u201d Karlsson said. \u201cWhen Sid leaves the game, we have two options. We can hang our heads and admit defeat. Or you can say, \u2018I\u2019m going to do my absolute best with him out.\u2019 I think we did that today. Not just myself. Everybody chipped in.\u201d<\/p>\n
They next play Saturday at home against the Dallas Stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 The Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 big names can\u2019t stay healthy, and the biggest of them all left late…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[385,1790,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-547818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}