Pittsburgh Penguins
Sidney Crosby did not play for the Penguins in a 3-2 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
The center and Pittsburgh captain participated in an optional morning skate after missing a 3-2 win against the New York Rangers on Friday because of an upper-body injury sustained during a 4-0 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
It was the first game Crosby had missed this season; he played 229 straight regular-season games since April 7, 2022, when he was unavailable because of an illness.
Crosby was joined on the ice Saturday by forward Matt Nieto, defenseman Ryan Shea, and goalies Joel Blomqvist and Alex Nedeljkovic.
The game against the Flyers was the Penguins’ last before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off (Feb. 12-20), where Crosby is set to captain Canada. He leads the Penguins with 58 points (17 goals, 41 assists) in 55 games.
As for whether Crosby’s absence Saturday affects his status for the tournament, Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said, “We’re going to take each day as it comes. He skated for a long time this morning. He felt significantly better today than he did yesterday, and that’s really encouraging.”
The Penguins placed forward Bryan Rust on injured reserve Saturday with a lower-body injury and recalled forward Vasily Ponomarev from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Rust had two assists in 19:34 of ice time Friday and is third on Pittsburgh with 42 points (20 goals, 22 assists) in 48 games this season.
“We would anticipate him being available [after the break],” Sullivan said. “It was more about having roster flexibility so we could call somebody up so that we could have 12 healthy forwards in the lineup.”
Ponomarev had 9:16 of ice time in the loss.
The Penguins placed Jesse Puljujarvi on waivers for the purpose of contract termination on Saturday.
The forward has nine points (three goals, six assists) in 26 games. He last played Jan. 29, and had been assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Feb. 5.
He played 20 of the Penguins’ first 23 games, totaling eight points (three goals, five assists), but played just six games since then. Puljujarvi played played just 22 games during the 2023-24 season after having bilateral hip surgery in July 2023.
The Penguins return from the break on Feb. 22 when they host the Washington Capitals. — Adam Kimelman
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