Crosby OUT Again; Sullivan Gives Encouraging News

PHILADELPHIA — Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby will not play Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center, but that’s only part of the story.

The Penguins will be without Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but also Bryan Rust, who was added to the injured reserve list late Saturday afternoon.

Read More: Penguins Lose Rust, Recall Vasily Ponomarev

The good news for the Penguins and perhaps Team Canada in advance of the Four Nations Face-Off, which begins in a few days, is that Sullivan indicated Crosby was progressing well.

“He skated for a long time this morning. He felt significantly better today than he did yesterday, and that’s that’s really encouraging,” Sullivan said.

Crosby had not missed regular season games since 2022. Without Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins beat the New York Rangers 3-2 at Madison Square Garden Friday.

Bryan Rust

The team added Rust to IR on Saturday afternoon. Sullivan downplayed the severity of the injury, indicating that the coming two-week break would mitigate any time lost. Rust is expected back after the team’s four-Nations break ends on Feb. 22.

In Rust’s place, the team recalled Vasily Ponomarev, who has already played three NHL games this season. Ponomarev was acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade last March. Ponomarev, 22, has 27 points (11-16-27) in 31 AHL games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this season.

Also Saturday, the team placed Jesse Puljujarvi on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract.