PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins placed centre Evgeni Malkin on injured reserve on Sunday with an upper-body injury.
Malkin missed his fourth consecutive game against Tampa Bay. He was a late scratch before Tuesday’s home game against Columbus when he participated in the morning skate, but wasn’t out for pre-game warmups.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said before the matchup with the Lightning that Malkin’s IR move was procedural in order to activate forward Philip Tomasino from injured reserve. Sullivan labelled Malkin as day-to-day.
Malkin had a streak of 209 consecutive games before the injury, the 12th-longest in team history. Pittsburgh is 1-1-1 during the current stretch without Malkin, a two-time scoring champion and 2012 Hart Trophy winner.
Malkin, who scored his 500th goal and posted his 1,300th NHL point earlier this season, has eight goals and 24 assists in 41 games.
Sullivan also said Sunday that Malkin’s linemate Michael Bunting was involved in a car accident outside of PPG Paints Arena before the game. Sullivan said Bunting is OK, but he did not play against Tampa Bay. Bunting has 13 goals and 12 assists in 43 games this season.
In 42 games this season, the 29-year-old has 13 goals and 25 points.
The Penguins sit two points out of a wild-card spot and are looking to bounce back from a 5-0 loss at home against the Ottawa Senators.
— With files from Sportsnet Staff
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.