Malkin suffers shoulder injury
PITTSBURGH — Rookie forward Evgeni Malkin dislocated his left shoulder during his first preseason game with the Pittsburgh Penguins and will be evaluated next week.
Malkin attended practice Thursday but did not take part, and teammates said he looked much better than he did after getting hurt Wednesday night.
The Penguins did not say how long they expect Malkin to be out or if he will be ready for their Oct. 5 opener.
Malkin, who had made several excellent passes earlier in the game, skated off the ice during the second period of a 5-4 victory over Philadelphia in Moncton, New Brunswick, after colliding with teammate John LeClair.
Malkin was clutching his left arm in pain as he left the ice, but did not have a sling on his arm after the game.
"The way he skated off holding his arm, it didn't look good at all," center Sidney Crosby said Thursday. "But just to see him up and around this morning, he was smiling and he didn't seem set back too much, so I think he feels a lot better."
"He looked all right," forward Colby Armstrong said. "I tried to talk to him, but it's tough to get anything out of him. Let's hope he's all right and this was a precaution more than anything."
Neither Crosby nor Malkin will play in a preseason home game against Washington tonight. Crosby played in the Penguins' first two exhibition games, but will be held out of at least several preseason games so as not to risk injury.
Veteran forward Mark Recchi also won't play Friday because of a broken left cheekbone. The injury is not expected to cause him to miss the start of the season. He said he could have played Friday if it had been a regular season game.
Malkin was hurt after sending a pass that LeClair missed. Malkin circled around the right side of the net before running into LeClair — and trying to hurdle over him — behind the left goal post.
