[ad_1]
CRANBERRY, PA. – Sidney Crosby An upper body injury could be set aside when the Pittsburgh Penguins host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday (at 7:00 pm local time, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, SUN, NHL.TV).
The center, 31, missed training Wednesday when assessing his injury, said coach Mike Sullivan. When asked if Crosby could miss the Lightning match, Sullivan reiterated that the Pittsburgh captain was being assessed for an upper-body injury.
Sullivan did not reveal when Crosby was injured. Crosby had two assists in 21:32 ice time in a 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
Crosby, who has 19 points (8 goals, 11 assists) in 16 games this season, is tied for second in the Penguins' goals with the attacker Phil Kessel. He is tied with Kessel for the Pittsburgh leader.
How the Penguins (7-6-3) would fit without their front-line center is uncertain. Assistant Mark Recchi replaced Crosby on that line in the left wing trials Bryan Rust and right wing Dominik Simon.
Evgeni Malkin centered a line with Zach Aston-Reese left and Patric Hornqvist to the right. To the front Carl Hagelin, who was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for the striker Tanner Pearson Wednesday, mainly played by Malkin this season.
Sullivan said he expected Pearson will be available on Thursday.
The Penguins have lost six of their last seven games (1-5-1) after a run of four straight wins from Oct. 18-27. If Crosby does not play, Sullivan still expects a better effort on Thursday.
"We need to find some consistency in our game," said Sullivan. "If not, change is inevitable, it's the reality of our business, we're trying to push this team in the right direction to play the game the right way, to play a certain way that gives us the best chance of We've already done it at the beginning of the season, but not enough to get the results. "
[ad_2]
Source link
