Pittsburgh has had a bit of a hard time of late without captain Sidney Crosby in the lineup. The Penguins are 0-2-1 in the three games he’s missed since sitting down with a concussion and while the Pens play tonight in Montreal, Crosby continues to stay at home and off the ice.
Crosby is still suffering from symptoms of his concussion suffered at the hands of Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman and worse yet for the Pens, there’s no timetable on when Crosby will be back on the ice.
Being without their best player is making life tougher for the Penguins. The offense doesn’t seem to click the same way and the Pens have altered their style of play a bit getting tougher and grinding things up a bit more. So far, it hasn’t resulted in a win for the Penguins. Expecting any team to be the same when a player of Crosby’s caliber is out is asking a lot, even if it they’re still very talented Pens.
With Crosby out, the pressure has shifted to Evgeni Malkin to be the focus of the offensive attack. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, Malkin is slumping a bit with just two goals and an assist in his last eight games and just one assist in those games that Crosby has missed. To win both he and recently returned Jordan Staal will have to be better. With Crosby not sure of when he’ll be able to come back, the pressure is definitely on to produce and keep the Penguins on pace with the Flyers in the Eastern Conference.