Penguins' Sidney Crosby leaves scrimmage early for undisclosed reasons

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby left during the second period of a scrimmage at the team’s facility in Cranberry on Saturday for undisclosed reasons.

Citing NHL protocol, which does not permit teams to offer information on players’ health during the coronavirus pandemic, Mike Sullivan declined comment.

Linemate Conor Sheary, apparently unaware of the rule, suggested Crosby’s departure was a “maintenance thing.”

It was the team’s first scrimmage since it opened training camp in advance of the NHL’s postseason tournament scheduled to begin in August.

Crosby played for what was labeled as Team Black in a 7-0 defeat of Team Gold. The Penguins captain scored a goal off a feed from Sheary during the first period.

Also scoring were forwards Sam Lafferty (twice), Jake Guentzel, Evgeni Malkin, defensemen Kris Letang and Justin Schultz in the two-period game.

Goaltender Matt Murray manned the net for Team Gold and surrendered all seven goals.

Murray’s performance was hardly anything to celebrate, but he did face a superior lineup as well as the scrimmage’s only two power-play opportunities that were scheduled at the end of both periods.

Sullivan minimized the significance of Murray seeing the better of the two lineups compared to fellow goaltender Tristan Jarry.

“These guys are playing against NHL players,” Sullivan said. “They’re all good players that are on the ice. There was a reason why we put Sid’s and (Malkin’s) lines on the same team because we knew were going to incorporate special teams as part of it. And logistically, it makes it a whole lot easier as far as switching jerseys.

“These guys are all going to get an opportunity through these (scrimmages) to get themselves in game situations, to be forced to make the necessary reads that they need to make as goaltenders, regardless of what the teams look like. There’s NHL players on both sides.”

Team Black was composed primarily of the top two lines of Guentzel, Crosby and Sheary as well as Zucker, Malkin and Bryan Rust. It also included the top defensive pairing of Letang and Brian Dumoulin as well as the third pairing of Schultz and Jack Johnson.

Team Gold opened with the third line of Patrick Marleau with Jared McCann as well as the alternating duo of Evan Rodrigues and Lafferty (who joined Team Black after Crosby’s departure). Also included was the fourth line of Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev.

The second pairing of John Marino and Marcus Petterson as well as a reserve duo of Kevin Czuczman and John Marino patrolled Team Gold’s blue line.

Toward the end of each period, the teams “traded” players with penalty killers Dumoulin and Johnson joining Team Gold, and McCann and Marino hooking up with Team Black to get looks on the power play.

The coaches had a different look as well. Sullivan and assistant coach Jacques Martin ran the benches and, along with equipment staffers, wore masks.

Sullivan suggested the masks were worn more out of routine than policy.

“Technically, when we’re on the benches and on the ice, that’s one area, as part of the protocol, that masks are not required,” Sullivan said. “We wear them a lot when we’re off the ice, in the locker room and that aspect where they are required. Jacques and I just had them on from our morning, and I think just out of habit, we brought them onto the bench as well. I was trying to manage it because I was blowing the whistle at the same time.”

Don’t expect Sullivan and company to wear masks for games during the postseason.

“My sense is we won’t,” Sullivan said. “Once we get into the secured zone the league has set up for us in Toronto, I think there’s a certain comfort level that we can have some normalcy to how we go about our business.”

Forwards Anthony Angello, Patric Hornqvist, Adam Johnson, Sam Miletic, Sam Poulin, Phil Varone, defensemen Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Juuso Riikola and Alex D’Orio remained absent for what is presumed to be precautionary measures due to potential secondary exposure to coronavirus. Goaltenders Casey DeSmith and Emil Larmi practiced on a different rink within the facility.

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