It appears the Pittsburgh Penguins won’t know much more about the status of forward Patric Hornqvist until Saturday.
Hornqvist, 27, left Thursday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks after being on the receiving end of an open-ice hit, helmet to helmet when they came together, from defenseman Ryan Stanton. There was no call on the play and Hornqvist did not practice on Friday, according to the club.
“He’s still being evaluated,” said Penguins’ head coach Mike Johnston, as per the club’s website. “We’ll find out how he is (Saturday) morning after they do more evaluations on him.
“Standard protocol is to check every area. He’s seeing our doctors, doing his baseline test and they’ll determine where he’s at.”
This comes with the Penguins already dealing with a multitude of injuries and illness: Chris Kunitz (foot), Pascal Dupuis (blood clot), Beau Bennett (lower body), Scott Wilson (leg) and Kris Letang (groin).
This injury to Hornqvist, who is producing at a point-per-game clip, has forced the Penguins recalled forward Bryan Rust from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.