Slumping Penguins lose more stars
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With another critical round of injury news the Penguins have reached a tipping point: They face additional weeks of finding fill-ins for some of their best players while trying to deliver on veteran defenseman Brooks Orpik's challenge that they intensify their drive to win.
Sunday, as the club clung to eighth place -- the final playoff spot -- in the Eastern Conference, coach Dan Bylsma announced the latest injury news:
• Jordan Staal's left knee injury, incurred Friday in a collision with Mike Rupp of the Rangers, will keep him out four to six weeks. It's medial collateral ligament damage, not a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and won't require surgery, so it's not as bad as it could have been. But the adept two-way center and top penalty-killer was having a great season, with 15 goals and 21 points in 34 games.
• Top-line right winger James Neal's foot was broken in the third period of Saturday's 3-1 loss to New Jersey when he blocked a shot by the Devils' Henrik Tallinder. "In the next few days we'll see what that timetable looks like, but it's weeks, not days," Bylsma said. Neal was leading the team with 21 goals and the NHL with 10 power-play goals.
• Craig Adams, one of the team's best defensive forwards, will have his right knee evaluated today after he left Sunday's practice at Consol Energy Center limping badly following a collision in the slot with Orpik and Matt Niskanen, Adams lay on the ice clutching the knee before being helped off. Bylsma said Adams aggravated a previous injury.
The Penguins, who have lost four games in a row, already are without center and captain Sidney Crosby (concussion symptoms), top offensive defenseman Kris Letang (concussion), promising forward Dustin Jeffrey (knee) and hard-nosed forward Arron Asham (knee). Crosby and Letang are out indefinitely. Jeffrey returned to practice over the weekend and could be close to playing. Asham's status is unclear.
First Published January 9, 2012 12:00 am
