The Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t give an update on the status of Sidney Crosby Saturday because the team still doesn’t have the results of tests done to determine if he has the mumps.
“We don’t have any update there,” coach Mike Johnston told the media Saturday.
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Crosby was held out of Friday’s game against Calgary and will miss Saturday’s game against Columbus as well for precautionary reasons. Crosby took part in Friday’s morning skate and took questions after. He had a noticeably oversized right cheek, which prompted worry that he had contracted the mumps, which have been going through the league this season.
On Saturday, Johnston was asked if he thought it was a mistake to have Crosby it Friday’s skate.
“No, nobody thought so because nobody thought he had mumps,” Johnston replied. “They had run their tests and didn’t feel that he did, so he was cleared to come to the rink. After that, they decided to take more precautions. I think what’s happened is because of the mumps scare and because of the concern for it, everybody is just taking that extra step and saying ‘OK, let’s hold on, if there’s any suspicion at all, we’re just going to be cautious and we’re going to run all the tests and wait till they come back before we clear anybody.’ ”
The Penguins also put defenseman Olli Maatta on the IR with an unspecified injury and will be without him for a couple of weeks.
