Post-car accident, Penguins glad Michael Bunting is OK
Some Pittsburgh Penguins fans may have noticed a significant vehicular jam near PPG Paints Arena as they made their way to the rink for Sunday’s contest vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In this case, usual game traffic was not to blame, but rather a car crash at the intersection of Washington Place and Centre Avenue.
Involved in the incident, which drew first responders to the scene, was Penguins winger Michael Bunting, who was unhurt but did not play Sunday night as a result.
Coach Mike Sullivan said before the Penguins’ 5-2 loss that Bunting and all involved in the crash were OK.
His teammates, some of whom saw the aftermath of the accident firsthand, were glad to hear Bunting was uninjured.
“I saw the accident when I was coming in and was like, ‘That looks like (Bunting’s) car,’ ” said Cody Glass, who has skated on a line with Bunting of late. “Didn’t see (Bunting), so I was like, ‘Oh, maybe nothing happened.’ But then I ended up seeing (Bunting) in the rink, and it did end up being him.
“First, I asked if he was okay. He was all right, and everything will handle itself there (but) it’s scary. Obviously, it gets in your head and hopefully, he’s doing all right.”
Bunting, through 43 games played, is third on the Penguins with 13 goals.
He has contributed 25 points on the year, averaging 14 minutes, 57 seconds of ice time while skating primarily as left wing on Evgeni Malkin’s second line.
Tomasino returns
While Bunting was held out of Sunday’s contest, fellow winger Phil Tomasino returned to action following an absence of four games because of an unspecified injury.
Tomasino, 23, had been sidelined since Jan. 5, when he was placed on injured reserve.
Versus Tampa Bay, he deployed at right wing on the Penguins’ second line centered by Glass, with Drew O’Connor at left wing.
The Penguins activated Tomasino from injured reserve ahead of puck drop Sunday and by game’s end, he’d skated 13:36, recording no shots.
“I thought Phil had a good game for his first game,” Sullivan said. “He made some plays, he was on the puck in the offensive zone. Obviously, we’d like to see that line chip in and score some goals, but I thought for his first game back, he was fine.”
Tomasino navigated a scary moment in the first period, when he appeared to take a stick to the face in the Lightning’s zone, which did not lead to a penalty.
Shortly thereafter, Tomasino was seen on the Penguins bench with a bloody nose, attended to by a club medical official.
Since arriving in Pittsburgh via a trade with the Nashville Predators on Nov. 25, Tomasino has four goals with three assists in 16 games.
Ice chips
• Forward Evgeni Malkin was placed on injured reserve Sunday afternoon. Malkin has missed four straight games with an unspecified ailment after abruptly being scratched from the Penguins’ Jan. 7 contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Per Sullivan, Malkin’s status has not changed from day-to-day.
• Defensemen Ryan Shea and Ryan Graves were healthy scratches Sunday vs. Tampa Bay.
• The Penguins had a scheduled off-day Monday.
Justin Guerriero is a TribLive reporter covering the Penguins, Pirates and college sports. A Pittsburgh native, he is a Central Catholic and University of Colorado graduate. He joined the Trib in 2022 after covering the Colorado Buffaloes for Rivals and freelancing for the Denver Post. He can be reached at jguerriero@triblive.com.
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