As the Pittsburgh Penguins begin their road to the holding up the Stanley Cup trophy Wednesday night and they were hoping to have their best player back on the ice. As Pittsburgh prepares to face off against the New York Islanders in Game 1, they will be without Sidney Crosby once again. The team captain was hoping to get medical clearance to resume playing, but has yet to be given the green light.
Crosby has been out since the end of March after taking a puck to face and suffering a broken jaw as a result. His jaw reportedly shattered in multiple places requiring metal plates to be used to fix it. He also lost several teeth in the process. Crosby has been attempting to recover quickly in an effort to be ready by playoff time.
He has been participating in practices with his teammates, but has yet to see any game time. He is now wearing a protective face shield now since the surgery.
The Penguins remain hopeful that he will be given medical clearance soon. Crosby has not suffered any setbacks since the original injury occurred. If it were up to him, he would be on the ice when the puck drops Wednesday night, however his jaw has not healed to the point where he can risk being hit by another. The team would rather play it safe in order to prevent a setback of any kind.
Crosby has been out nearly five weeks for an injury that can take up to six weeks to heal. The team will keep his status at "game-time decision" throughout the playoffs. Despite the absence of Crosby, the Penguins still finished as the top seed in the Eastern Conference and the second-best team overall.
The news of Crosby being out for Game 1 should come as good news for the New York Islanders who barely made it in as the No. 8 seed. Crosby played in 36 games this season and managed to record 56 points. That was good enough for him to finish tied for third in league and still remain in contention for the Hart Tropy, given to the league's MVP.
