CRANBERRY, Pa. --Sidney Crosby missed an intrasquad scrimmage for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, the second straight day he's been off the ice after leaving early Saturday for undisclosed reasons.
The center was not listed on either roster for the scrimmage. Evan Rodrigues replaced Crosby with Jake Guentzel at left wing and Conor Sheary at right wing. That line also was together Sunday.
Crosby left the bench Saturday about 10 minutes into the 25-minute second period, walked toward the locker room with his stick and did not return for the rest of the two-period scrimmage.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan declined to comment on Crosby's situation. As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.
In his 15th NHL season, Crosby scored 47 points (16 goals, 31 assists) in 41 games before it was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. He was injured Nov. 9, had core muscle surgery Nov. 14 and missed 28 games before returning to score four points (one goal, three assists) in a 7-3 win against the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 14.
In addition to Crosby, the Penguins had injuries to several other key players throughout the regular season, including Malkin, Guentzel and Letang. Defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who missed 37 games after having ankle surgery Dec. 1, said the experience could help if the Penguins need to play without someone of Crosby's caliber.
"It's something that we've done all this year," Dumoulin said. "It seems like we've never really had a full lineup throughout this whole year. Always at some point, someone was injured. A lot of the times, you don't even have time to think about it, just with the busy schedule or anything. I think it's going to be the same this time, whether a guy gets injured or someone gets sick. I think it's important for us to just stay focused and maintain our direction.
"Obviously, we have guys that can play in different roles and guys that have on other teams. So I feel like we have a really, really deep team. Even our extra forwards are good players. Regardless of who's injured and who's not, we have a good team going forward."
The Penguins (40-23-6, .623 points percentage) enter the Stanley Cup Qualifiers as the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference and will play the No. 12 seed, the Montreal Canadiens (31-31-9, .500). The best-of-5 series will begin at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city, Aug. 1.
The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the loser will have a chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery, to be held Aug. 10.
When Pittsburgh opened training camp July 13, Crosby said he wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to win the Stanley Cup for the fourth time.
"You have a career, or a short window in your career, to be able to [win the Cup]," Crosby said. "Anytime you get an opportunity to play, play for the Stanley Cup, you want to try to take advantage of it. It's not easy, but certainly, it's a great feeling. We've felt it before and we know what it takes. We've got a great opportunity. I think that's your goal every year, and we're in a position to compete for it. We have to find a way to get it done."
