Sidney Crosby will miss Capitals-Penguins Game 4 due to concussion

PITTSBURGH — By now, most of the hockey-viewing public has seen the images of Sidney Crosby lying motionless on the ice Monday night.

Many have observed the split-second sequence, which involved a slash to the helmet from Alex Ovechkin and cross-check from Matt Niskanen, that put Crosby there early in the first period.

Nearly all have assigned blame based on their own conclusions, which seem to fall into two basic camps defined by proximity to either the Potomac or the Allegheny.

“It’s like a car accident,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “You have your side how it happened and the other person will have his side so it’s, I mean, it’s perspective.”

There has been plenty of conjecture, some conspiracy-theoririzing, and very few concrete facts until Penguins coach Mike Sullivan offered a pair Tuesday morning: Crosby has been diagnosed with a concussion and will miss Game 4 Wednesday night. Pittsburgh is down a superstar and possibly thirsty for revenge, and Washington is still very much in this series, which the Penguins lead two games to one.

“I hear the noise,” Trotz said. “I think it’s ridiculous but we’re just going to look forward to next game. Right now we’re down 2-1 in this series. We’re going to have to have our best game to this point and we’re going to have to raise it to another level.”

The Penguins, by the way, will also be without third-line forward Conor Sheary who was likewise concussed Monday night. Sullivan did not explicitly rule him out but, because the concussion protocol requires a player to take contact and respond well to it before being cleared, Sheary does not have enough time to pass before Wednesday night.

Sheary was able to do a bit of skating Tuesday morning, (Crosby was not) indicating that his symptoms are not as severe. Unfortunately for Sheary this has become somewhat of an afterthought. There is some indignity to whacking your skull on the same day as Sid The Kid.

The Capitals will not be without Niskanen, who found out Tuesday that he will not face a disciplinary hearing over the hit that got him ejected from the game.

Trotz said that was the right decision, Sullivan did not feel like sharing his views.

Most of the Penguins declined to express their thoughts just as Sullivan did but it’s unlikely they were holding back from rushing to Niskanen’s defense.

“I’m not going to comment on anything, but it looked like a dirty hit to me,” left winger Carl Hagelin said.

Washington has a minor decision to make over whether or not to continue dressing seven defensemen, as it did Monday when Karl Alzner returned to the lineup. The Capitals had barely gotten through a single rotation before Niskanen got ejected, so Trotz did not get a clear picture of what the new lineup would have looked like though he was fortunate to have the extra body on hand.

The Penguins will have to choose how to proceed without Crosby. Sullivan said lineups would be a game-time decision. On Tuesday, the Penguins recalled winger Josh Archibald and center Oskar Sundqvist from AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

To this point, Crosby’s line had been playing mostly against Nicklas Backstrom’s and Malkin’s line had been dueling primarily with that of Evgeny Kuzknetsov. That will have to change.

“We obviously have to rethink what matchups we might like and we’ll go from there,” Sullivan said. “As I said, we have capable guys. We have good players and we’ll put combinations together that we think give us the best chance to win and we’ll game-plan from that standpoint.”

Crosby linemate Jake Guentzel, also, is likely to receive more time on the team’s top power play unit. Crosby led the team in power play goals with 14 during the regular season and has one so far in the playoffs.

Pittsburgh is used to dealing with injuries. Crosby played 75 games this season. Evgeni Malkin played 62. Guentzel played 40. Kris Letang, who is on season-ending injured reserve following surgery to repair a herniated disc, only played 41 and yet the Penguins finished the regular season with a 50-21-11 record and scored an NHL-best 282 goals.

Time will tell how the loss of Crosby impacts a player like Guentzel, who has seven goals this playoffs. Guentzel could take on an even greater scoring role in Crosby’s absence, or face greater attention and become less effective.

This series has already been a physical one and, with Crosby out, there may be even more anger on the ice Wednesday. Niskanen may return with a target tracking his every move.

“I mean it should be nasty,” Capitals center Jay Beagle said Tuesday. “It’s the playoffs. That’s the way we like to play, that’s the way they like to play. Hard hits. Going after each other. I mean, these are two teams that don’t like each other.”