Breaking: the worst is confirmed for the Pens and Crosby!

The Pittsburgh Penguins made headlines more than once on Wednesday as they signed general manager Jim Rutherford to a three-year contract extension through the 2021-22 season. Then, Rutherford pulled the trigger on a one for one player trade, as he moved forward Carl Hagelin to the Los Angeles Kings, in return for Tanner Pearson. 

While the Penguins are hoping things will turn around and into the right direction shortly once Pearson gets inserted into the lineup, their most important player might be on the sidelines. On Wednesday, head coach Mike Sullivan revealed that captain and star player Sidney Crosby was being evaluated for an upper-body injury. 

On Thursday, Sullivan explained that Crosby will not be in tonight's lineup for the tilt against the Tampa Bay Lighting. He however made sure to point out that the injury suffered by his captain was NOT a concussion. The star player skated ahead of team's practice before the announcement was made. 

"Sid will not play tonight... Right now his status is day-to-day, but my sense is it's going to be a week."

Crosby, of course, has a long history of concussion problems, but the superstar centre hasn’t missed a game due to injury since the 2016-17 season. The Pens captain was in the lineup last night for the Pens' 4-2 defeat at the hands of the New Jersey Devils. In the contest, Crosby collected two assists. No one knows where the captain could have suffered the injury. Jake Guentzel’s sixth goal of the season tied the game at 2 after withstanding a challenge by New Jersey coach John Hynes, who claimed Crosby interfered with goalie Keith Kinkaid.

Kinkaid had managed to stop Crosby’s semi-breakaway, but the skate of the Penguins’ star player knocked the netminder to the ice, leaving Guentzel in front of an open net to shoot at with the rebound. After reviewing the goal, the officials ruled Devils forward Blake Coleman caused the problem by pushing Crosby in the back.

Did he injure himself on that play? Who knows? However, one thing is clear, he will miss his first game of the 2018-19 season tonight. 

In other news, Sullivan confirmed that Matt Murray will start in goal tonight.

"He's worked on his game in practice. Matt is a #1 goalie. As I've said all along here, even though Casey has started, Matt is still very much in the picture. That never changed. We have the ultimate faith and trust in Matt."