Washington's 6-3 win over Pittsburgh Wednesday was a very entertaining game. We had the Ovechkin-Malkin drama, which seemed to play out every time the two were on the ice together. We had nine goals, including a four-goal Capital explosion in the decisive third period.
Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin both scored, and the other NHL alpha dog, Sidney Crosby, was all over the ice as usual. Crosby assisted on two of Pittsburgh's three goals, but made didn't make the Thursday morning headlines because of his crafty passing ability or his explosive skating.
Instead of any of that, an apparent leg injury Crosby suffered in the third period has grabbed the attention of the hockey world.
It doesn't look that bad on the video, but it was obviously painful for Crosby. We don't know yet how serious it is, but Crosby doesn't believe we're looking at a big problem here.
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"I don't think it's too bad," Crosby said. "We'll see [today]. I haven't seen [the replay], but it felt pretty bad. Hopefully, all goes well."
With how much NBC has hyped up their Sunday Game of the Week broadcast around Crosby, this can't be good. I've never been a big fan of obsessing over single-game television ratings, but in this era of growth for the NHL, any blip on the proverbial radar is going to give the detractors ammunition.
Obviously, it's too early to tell if Crosby is in danger of missing any time. It's also not worth risking his future health by having him play Sunday just to make NBC happy.
After all, if Crosby can't go, there are still plenty of star players involved, plus the NBC crew can talk about the overall struggles of the Penguins. I'm sure they can make a passable broadcast out of it.
For Pittsburgh, ravaged by injuries this season, any long-term loss of Crosby would just be icing on the cake. They've had a bad year so far, and it would only get worse if the captain missed significant time.
UPDATE: Crosby is currently not out for an optional practice at Mellon Arena. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar is practicing, which is at least one piece of good news for the Penguins.
Crosby On Injury Suffered Wednesday: 'I Don't Think It's Too Bad' originally appeared on NHL Main on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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