Pittsburgh Penguins superstar center Sidney Crosby will be sidelined at least one week to recover from a high ankle sprain, the team announced Friday.

The reigning Hart Trophy winner, Crosby already has missed 22 games since suffering the injury January 18 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Penguins (40-24-7) currently have 87 points - one behind the New Jersey Devils (41-24-6) for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Pittsburgh has three games over the next seven days; the Penguins host the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday, visit the New York Rangers on Tuesday before returning home two days later to face the Lightning. Full Story…

WASHINGTON — Sidney Crosby again got the better of Alex Ovechkin, thanks to a rookie who put the puck into his own net with 28 seconds to play.

Nicklas Backstrom’s attempt to clear the puck went horribly wrong, providing the Pittsburgh Penguins with the winning goal in Sunday’s 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals.

In a crowd in front of the crease, Backstrom looked as if he were wearing the wrong-colored jersey when he got his stick on a rebound and backhanded it past goalie Cristobal Huet.

Backstrom, who wasn’t available for comment after the game, was either hoping to push the puck gently to Huet or forcefully clear it to the side of the net.

Either way, he failed, and the goal was credited as an unassisted score for Crosby, who took the original shot. The puck was close to striking Crosby’s skate on the way into the net, but the Penguins star said he thought it went in clean off Backstrom’s stick.

“We’ve been on the other side of that before. Obviously, it’s not fun,” Crosby said. “It’s a big break for us.”

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BOSTON (AP) — Penguins forward Marian Hossa, acquired at the trade deadline from the Atlanta Thrashers, injured his knee in his first game for Pittsburgh and sat out the third period of the game against the Boston Bruins.

Hossa was acquired Tuesday along with forward Pascal Dupuis for forwards Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen, a top prospect and a first-round draft pick.

A five-time All-Star right wing, Hossa has 26 goals and 30 assists in 60 games after tying for sixth in the NHL with 100 points last season.

No, no-one got ran over by the Zamboni, this is what happens when the Zamboni transmission fails.

As you can see, it got to center ice and started spitting out giant gobs of transmission fluid. It was able to back up under its own power (making a giant red streak all the way), but they had to delay the game for 15 minutes, and make do with one Zamboni for the rest of the game. They didn’t do any of the usual promos during the intermissions, presumably because it took twice as long to clean the ice with only one Zamboni.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins, desperate to add another scorer to Sidney Crosby’s line, acquired forward Marian Hossa from Atlanta in a trade Tuesday that sent forwards Colby Armstrong and Eric Christensen to the Thrashers.

With Toronto’s Mats Sundin off the market after refusing to waive his no-trade clause, Hossa was the biggest name available at the trade deadline. Hossa is a five-time All-Star right wing who has 26 goals and 30 assists in 60 games this season after finishing tied for sixth in the NHL with 100 points last season.

The Penguins paid a big price to get a player who will become a free agent on July 1, dealing two of their top forwards, plus 2007 first-round draft pick Angelo Esposito and a future first-round draft pick. Pittsburgh also gets forward Pascal Dupuis, a right wing who has 10 goals and five assists in 62 games. Full Story…