Sidney Crosby gets hit in the head with a puck in his return to practice.

The Pittsburgh Penguins got what can only be described as some terrific news on Saturday, however that good news nearly turned very bad due to some carless on the part of the Penguins. 

First the good news. There was a belief that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was drawing very close to a return after he joined the Penguins for their recent road trip and on Saturday morning Crosby was there when the Penguins hit the ice for a routine practice. Crosby participated throughout the entire practice and did not appear to be limited in any way, in fact Penguins reporter Dave Molinari felt that the Penguins captain had not lost a step in spite of his long layoff due to injury.

"Good thing we all know that Crosby hasn’t played in about two months, because you’d never guess that from watching him in practice," said Molinari.

It is unclear how close Crosby is to making his return to the lineup, both Crosby himself as well as Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan left open the possibility that he could suit up for Sunday's matchup against the Penguins. That being said according to Molinari it sounded like there was some doubt regarding Crosby's availability, so it may be that he is still just a few days away from making his return. That being said that may not have been the case at all if a scare during practice had turned out worse that it actually was. 

At some point during the practice Penguins veteran Patric Hornqvist fired off what has been described as a "hard shot" at Crosby's head, although obviously Hornqvist was not targeting his teammate deliberately. Thankfully for the Penguins, and Hornqvist especially, the shot went off of the captain's visor and Crosby appeared to be none the worse for wear after the incident. Nonetheless it sounds like this one turned out to be a very close call and one would hope that Hornqvist might take it a little easier on the shots moving forward, especially if an injured Sidney Crosby just so happens to be in his path. 

Last but not least Crosby was working on the team's number one power play unit today, so it sounds like if he does come back for Sunday's game the plan is to get him into the full swing of things.