Pens captain not on ice after temporarily leaving game last night
Sidney Crosby wasn’t on the ice at practice on Wednesday a day after getting “tangled up” as he put it in a collision with two Devils players.
Sidney Crosby has gone to the Pens locker room after colliding with Luke Hughes and Erik Haula pic.twitter.com/8ThWlkFuMm
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 5, 2025
Crosby left the ice hunched over in pain and went to the lockerroom for a brief period but was able to return in the third period and play again to the end of the game, including failing to score on his turn in the shootout of Pittsburgh’s 3-2 loss to New Jersey.
After finishing the game, Crosby declared he was OK and talked to reporters while not seeming overly concerned about his arm.
Coach Mike Sullivan talked about Crosby’s importance to the team after the game last night.
“Obviously, he means so much to this team in so many ways. He’s the heartbeat of the group. I thought the guys competed hard, and obviously [Kevin Hayes] gets a real nice 4-on-4 goal. I thought it gave the bench a boost, and then we get Sid back. But it’s never an easy thing when he leaves the bench, that’s for sure.”
The Penguins have two more games, tomorrow and Friday before the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-off begins next week. Crosby has been named captain of the Canadians at that event. Today’s absence could be just precautionary and to manage his workload before his busy upcoming schedule but we’ll wait and see what updated might be provided. The Pens play two divisional opponents before the break and don’t have the services of center Evgeni Malkin, who has been out of the lineup since January 25th with a knee injury.