Crosby hopes he is fast healer
PITTSBURGH -- If Sidney Crosby wants any advice on dealing with the first major injury of his hockey career, he needs only to bring up the subject at the dinner table.
After all, who is better versed on handling a bad injury than Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux, the team's longtime but oft-injured star?
Crosby, the NHL's marquee name and the player the Penguins are building a Stanley Cup contender around, learned Tuesday he will be out for 6-8 weeks with a high ankle sprain.
The timetable is what the Penguins realistically expected almost from the moment Crosby was hurt during the first period Friday night against Tampa Bay. Still, the 20-year-old Crosby thought his age and superb conditioning might allow him to return sooner.
"I was hoping three or four weeks would be the most," Crosby said, talking publicly Tuesday for the first time since being injured. "It doesn't look like it will be like that. We'll see how fast I heal."
If Crosby is out for eight weeks, or until mid-March, he would miss most of the remaining regular season. That would be major setback to the Penguins, who are locked in a three-way race with the Devils and Flyers for the Atlantic Division lead.
The Penguins are 10-1-2 in their last 13 games but are only 1-2-3 in the six games they've played without Crosby the last three seasons.
Still, the Penguins are very familiar with coping with the loss of a major star to a major injury. It happened repeatedly to Lemieux as he sat out the equivalent of 9½ seasons due to back problems, cancer, a heart condition and other injuries during a Hall of Fame career that began in 1984 and ended in 2006.
"His injuries were a little different from mine -- cancer and life-threatening things are a little different, said Crosby, who lives in Lemieux's house during the season. "But he's definitely someone who knows. We'll see if I need to pick his brain at some point."
The injury comes at a bad time for the league, with Crosby expected to be the big drawing card at Sunday's NHL All-Star game in Atlanta. Crosby was tied for the league scoring lead with 63 points when he was hurt.
Crosby, the league's reigning scoring champion and MVP, will stay back in Pittsburgh and won't attend the game as a spectator. Penguins teammate Evgeni Malkin was chosen as Crosby's all-star replacement.
Crosby was injured after he skated into the Lightning zone about 7½ minutes into Friday's game and threw a backhander on the net from the right circle. Even while losing his balance as he became tangled with Tampa Bay's Paul Ranger, he took another swipe at the puck as he skidded on his rear end toward the end boards.
"Usually, I hit with my feet and my legs come up," he said. "My left foot hit and went up, but my right foot stuck in the boards. There's nothing you can do about it. It's just bad luck."