Report: Penguins lose 2 players to injury.

It appears that he Pittsburgh Penguins will be down 2 players when they next take the ice.

According to a report from Pens Inside Scoop the Penguins have lost both forward Bryan Rust and veteran defenseman Olli Maatta to what seems to be a pair of short term injuries at this time. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has reportedly listed both players as day to day and in both cases it appears that the players are dealing with lower body injuries. 

The fact that this was announced today would appear to be an indication that neither man will be ready to go when the Penguins take on the Minnesota Wild on Monday evening. That is only speculative at this time but it seems likely and we should not expect official word until closer to puck drop at some point during the day tomorrow. 

This has to be a frustrating injury for both players as they both have shown some signs of regressing already this season. In the case of Rust he is well on pace to break his previous single season goal total but his points per game this season at 0.47 have also dropped considerably compared to the 0.55 points per game he was average in his previous season as a Penguin. Rust has shown flashes of brilliance on a number of occasions and the Penguins will be hopeful he can get back to those ways when he returns from injury.

The frustration with Maatta however may be another matter entirely. The now well established Penguins defender has never truly lived up to the high expectations that were set before him and the frustration directed at him from the Penguins fan base is now palpable. Obviously no true fan wants to see any player get hurt, but I doubt that the Penguins fan base will be missing Maatta all that much, regardless of how long he remains sidelined by this injury.

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