It appears that Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby's run of games played is about to come to an end.
Crosby - injured during the third period of Pittsburgh's 3-2 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday - was ruled out for Friday night's game against the New York Rangers. This will put an end to Crosby's streak of 299 consecutive games played, which is the longest streak of his career, and, according to Penguins historian Bob Grove, is the ninth-longest streak in team history.
"Right now, we're just taking it one day at a time," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "He's not going to play tonight. Obviously, he's on the ice, he's participating in the morning skate, which is encouraging from our standpoint."
As Sullivan alluded to, Crosby being ruled out against New York isn't necessarily a doomsday scenario for the Penguins. He did participate with the team at Friday's morning skate, meaning he made the trip and that a return likely isn't far off.
With the Penguins on the first leg of a back-to-back before the 4 Nations Face-off break, it wouldn't come as a surprise to see Crosby miss both games yet be ready to go when the tournament commences on Feb. 12 with a matchup between Team Canada and Team Sweden. The Penguins return to action after the break to take on the Washington Capitals on Feb. 22.
However, the Penguins and Crosby are taking each day as it comes, and Sullivan is hopeful that Crosby will be ready for 4 Nations.
"What I can tell you is that Sid's health is, first and foremost, is always our priortity. It's our priority for every player," Sullivan said. "Obviously, that tournament means an awful lot to Sid for obvious reasons. And, as his coach and someone that cares about him, I certainly want what's best for him. But, also, I'm hopeful that he has the opportunity to participate because it means so much to him.
"Having said that, we have very capable medical staff that's advising him, and [Penguins GM and POHO Kyle Dubas], obviously, has an affiliation with Team Canada. And, at this point, we're just taking each day as it comes. The fact that he's on the ice this morning participating in the morning skate is very encouraging."
In the meantime, however, the Penguins have a challenge ahead of them without both Crosby and Evgeni Malkin - who is still on injured reserve with a lower-body injury - in their lineup for, potentially, both games against the Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers. They were working with Rickard Rakell as their top-line center at Thursday's practice, and they recalled forward Emil Bemstrom - who is enjoying a solid season - from the AHL on Friday.
"Obviously, when you have players of that stature out of the lineup, those guys are hard to replace," Sullivan said. "And I'm stating the obvious when I say that. But I think the guys that are in the lineup... they recognize what type of effort and what type of purpose we need to have tonight in order to have success.
"We're not going to replace those guys. That's impossible. But what we can do is put a game on the ice that's going to give us a chance to win."
