Sidney Crosby still needs more work done on his broken jaw, but remains happy with his recovery overall.
“Jaw’s good,” Crosby told CTV. “I think I have to do some things once I get back to Pittsburgh, but pretty minor procedures and stuff that, hopefully, I really won’t have to worry about once I get it done.”
Crosby, 25, missed the final month of the regular season after taking a slapshot to the face on March 30. He returned to action for Game 2 of Pittsburgh’s opening-round playoff series against the Islanders, and wore a protective face shield for the opening two playoff rounds.
The Pens captain ditched the guard for the Eastern Conference finals against Boston -- during which he was punched in the jaw by Bruins captain Zdeno Chara -- but insisted his poor performance (zero points in four games) had nothing to do with the injury.
“It was pretty good,” he explained. “I got a couple of shots that didn’t feel great, but nothing that I felt hindered my play, anything less than anyone else was playing through at the time.
“So, I was really happy with the way it responded.”