Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Crosby has concussion, but Penguins ‘optimistic’ he’ll be back soon

aWuVblkgLAwy
Mike Milbury and Keith Jones say Matt Niskanen deserved a five-minute major and ejection for not being in control of his stick but say it was a reactionary play with no premeditation.

Sidney Crosby has a concussion. He won’t play tomorrow in Game 4 of the Capitals-Penguins series in Pittsburgh.

“We will evaluate him from there,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said today.

“He’s very upbeat and positive,” Sullivan added. “We’re very optimistic and hopeful we’ll have him back in a timely fashion.”

Crosby was hurt last night when he took a cross-check to side of his head from Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen. An instant earlier, Crosby had taken an Alex Ovechkin stick to the back of his head.

Ovechkin was not penalized, but Niskanen received a five-minute major and a game misconduct. Crosby stayed down for a while and had to be helped off the ice. He did not return to the game.

“He will go through the protocols that we always put our guys through when they’ve been diagnosed with a concussion,” Sullivan said, per the Washington Post. “The nature of these things is that they are all very different. Sometimes they come around quickly, other times they don’t.”

Crosby, of course, has a well-documented history with concussions. He missed six games in October with one. He missed many more games earlier in his career with the same injury.

Read more: Capitals, Penguins reflect on Crosby’s ‘gut-wrenching’ injury

The Penguins also announced that Crosby’s sometimes linemate, Conor Sheary, has a concussion. Sheary was hurt last night when he collided with teammate Patric Hornqvist.

No word when Sheary might be able to play again, but he did skate this morning on his own.

The Penguins lead the Capitals, 2-1, in the series.

Related: Trotz calls accusations against Caps ‘ridiculous’