{"id":509934,"date":"2026-03-18T17:40:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/509934\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T17:40:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:40:38","slug":"penguins-sidney-crosby-injured-in-olympics-set-to-return-to-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/509934\/","title":{"rendered":"Penguins\u2019 Sidney Crosby, injured in Olympics, set to return to lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

RALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 The Pittsburgh Penguins haven\u2019t won in Raleigh since 2018. They\u2019re bringing a pretty significant reinforcement for Wednesday\u2019s battle against the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n

Sidney Crosby is back.<\/p>\n

After missing the past 11 games because of a right knee injury sustained during the Olympics<\/a>, Crosby, four weeks to the day since he was hurt in Canada\u2019s quarterfinal win over the Czech Republic, is making his return to the lineup.<\/p>\n

The Penguins went 5-3-3 without him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to get back in it,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cI\u2019ve watched these guys. Being on the trip, getting closer, it\u2019s been close (to getting back). I\u2019m happy to get back in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, a team official called Crosby\u2019s situation a \u201cfour-week injury,\u201d but Crosby said Wednesday wasn\u2019t necessarily the target date for his return. Rather, he wanted to get comfortable with his knee and feel certain that he wasn\u2019t risking further injury.<\/p>\n

\"NCAA
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BEAT OUR EXPERTS<\/p>\n

Predict how you think the tournament will
play out. Can you beat one of our experts?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of how I feel, trying to make sure that everything is good in every way,\u201d he said. \u201cBe ready to play, all that stuff. I don\u2019t think specifically today was the target.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Penguins captain has been skating for two weeks and has taken part in all five morning skates on this road trip. When Wednesday\u2019s morning skate began, instead of standing at the back of the pack, as had been the case on the four previous stops, Crosby stood between linemates Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell.<\/p>\n

He will also operate on the top power-play unit alongside Evgeni Malkin, Rust, Rakell and Erik Karlsson.<\/p>\n

Crosby has been impressed with the team\u2019s performance in his absence.<\/p>\n

\u201c(They\u2019re playing) really well,\u201d he said of the Penguins, who sit in second place in the Eastern Conference\u2019s Metropolitan Division, behind the Hurricanes. \u201cIt\u2019s never easy watching. You see it on a nightly basis, the way we compete, the way we work. Coming back in games. A lot of different things. I want to jump right in there and contribute as best I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malkin made quite a splash in his return, scoring two beautiful goals<\/a> and adding an assist in the Penguins\u2019 7-2 win in Colorado on Monday.<\/p>\n

His longtime teammate was impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat,\u201d Crosby said of Malkin\u2019s performance. \u201cWe were skating together. To see him come out like that, after missing five games, was huge. He set the bar high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crosby knows what it\u2019s like to return from a prolonged absence after an injury. He once missed nearly a full calendar year of action because of a concussion in 2012, along with many other injuries over his 21-season career.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s hoping the work he\u2019s put in during the past two weeks in practice will ease his transition into Wednesday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s more timing (that can be a challenge), things like that,\u201d he said. \u201cThose are the things that are hard to recreate in practice. We haven\u2019t had a ton of practices. With the timing stuff, you have to be patient, making sure you\u2019re doing your best to anticipate. As far as getting touches and handling the puck, I\u2019ve done a lot of that the past couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crosby has scored 27 goals and produced 59 points in 56 games this season. He will need 12 points in the final 15 games of the season to continue his NHL record streak of 21 seasons averaging a point per game or better.<\/p>\n

Of course, more importantly to Crosby, the Penguins are in playoff position but still have a lot of work to do if they will reach the postseason for the first time in four years. The Eastern Conference playoff race has reached absurd levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s competitive,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cYou see it on a nightly basis. Everyone is pushing for a few spots. But that\u2019s the fun for a hockey player. Those are the games you want to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting Wednesday, he\u2019ll get his chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 The Pittsburgh Penguins haven\u2019t won in Raleigh since 2018. They\u2019re bringing a pretty significant reinforcement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[276,5,54125,4,2602,100],"class_list":{"0":"post-509934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-fantasy-hockey","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-olympics","13":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116251413048880951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}