The Pittsburgh Penguins say they will be without the services of star Evgeni Malkin against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday as he continues to be evaluated for a lower-body injury.
“We hope to have more definitive information over the next day or so,” head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters.
“I’ll update you when I get it. I’d rather not get into the details of the evaluation process. When we get more definitive information, we’ll update you.”
The 34-year-old was hurt on Tuesday night in the team’s 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins.
During the first period, Malkin was levelled by Bruins defenceman Jarred Tinordi in the corner near Boston’s net. Malkin was slow to get up on the play and gingerly made his way to the Penguins bench and then to the locker room. While he did return for one more shift later in the period, Malkin was eventually ruled out of the game.
The lack of a penalty on the hit and the five-minute major and game misconduct on a later one by Penguins forward Brandon Tanev, which knocked Tinordi out of the game with an upper-body injury, prompted Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby to call for more clarity from officials post-game.
“It’s tough to really gauge when you’re out there. I know it’s fast, but right now, it’s really hard to know what is in fact clean and what’s not. And when you’re out there playing, it’s important that you do know that,” he said.
Prior to the injury, Malkin had been red-hot on an eight-game point streak after a slow start to the season.
The Penguins face the Devils twice more this week with games on Saturday and Sunday.
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