After leaving Saturday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks and sitting out Tuesday's contest vs. the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby is now reportedly considering surgery for a sports hernia injury that has bothered him since training camp.
The Athletic reported Tuesday that Crosby is mulling undergoing a procedure that would require up to six weeks of recovery time. This comes after he suffered a leg injury on Saturday, but the report states that the 32-year-old star already opted against sports hernia surgery earlier this season.
After the Penguins' 3-2 shootout victory Saturday, it was confirmed that Crosby suffered an injury in the third period and underwent further evaluation.
No. 87's left leg collided with Chicago defenseman Erik Gustafsson's skate during an offensive zone entry in the final frame of Saturday's game. Later in the same shift, Crosby took a shot off his right skate and left the ice shortly afterward.
A closer look. Wish this had gone longer. pic.twitter.com/6kz3Ax7gQI
— ToughCall 🇨🇦 (@ToughCallBlog) November 10, 2019
In Tuesday's report, The Athletic stated that Crosby's foot was not injured. It's a small bit of good news for the Penguins and Crosby, who could also choose to receive steroid injections and physical therapy to try to delay the need for hernia surgery until the offseason, although the team is said to prefer its star player going under the knife earlier than later.
The Pittsburgh captain leads his team with 17 points in 17 games played so far this season. With Crosby now on the shelf for the time being, the Pens are currently dealing with two recent injuries as well: defenseman Kris Letang is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury and the team placed forward Patric Hornqvist on injured reserve Nov. 3.
Pittsburgh (10-6-2, 22 points) dropped to fourth place in the Metropolitan Division after Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Rangers, and with its star center potentially out in the near future, the team will need to find a way to maintain its winning record with some of the Penguins' other pieces.