The Penguins picked up a winger who might fit in well alongside Sidney Crosby when they acquired Chris Kunitz from Anaheim yesterday.
When those two will have a chance to be on the ice together remains to be seen. Kunitz should make his Penguins debut when they visit Chicago tonight, but Crosby's status for the game isn't known.
The groin injury that forced him to sit out a 1-0 victory Wednesday against the New York Islanders also prevented Crosby from skating in practice at Southpointe yesterday.
He is listed as day to day and plans to test his injury at the game-day skate this morning before deciding whether to dress against the Blackhawks.
"He'll come to the rink [this morning] and get treatment, and we'll see how he is," interim coach Dan Bylsma said.
Crosby said that rest is the only real treatment for his condition, and that being unable to play now is more frustrating than usual because the Penguins are battling to claim a playoff spot.
"It's always like that when you're hurt," he said, "even more so now with the race we're in."
Putting trip in focus
The Penguins will play their final game of the 2008-09 regular season April 11 in Montreal.
Lose too often on the five-game road trip that begins tonight, and their season might be all but officially over before they make it back home after a game March 8 in Washington.
"I think it's make-or-break, really, especially with the trade deadline coming up," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "This whole road trip is either going to set ourselves up or really knock ourselves back."
Crosby echoed that sentiment, and acknowledged that the Penguins have to improve on the 1-4-2 mark they've compiled their past seven away games.
"It's big," Crosby said. "Really big. We have to improve our ways on the road. There's no doubt this is the biggest trip of the year for us."
Winger Ruslan Fedotenko, however, feels it would be a mistake to attach too much emphasis to the next five games, regardless of how the Penguins fare.
He suggested there would be enough time left for them to recover from an unproductive trip, considering that they were two points out of a playoff spot before last night.
"There will still be 15 games left after that," he said. "That's 30 [potential] points. Obviously, we need to play well and win some games, but in my mind, it will be a fight to the end.
"[A three-point gap] at this point is not a lot, especially with 40 points out there to grab. [Three] points doesn't seem like a lot at all."
Kunitz looks ahead
Kunitz learned he had been traded when he was pulled off the ice during Anaheim's game-day skate yesterday in Boston.
He said last night in a phone interview while he was in a cab from the airport to the Penguins' hotel in Chicago that, while "I had considered different scenarios in my head," he hadn't expected to be traded.
That doesn't necessarily mean he was entirely unhappy about the move, however. "It's going to be tough now, but hopefully it will be something that will work in the future," he told the Orange County Register.
When those two will have a chance to be on the ice together remains to be seen. Kunitz should make his Penguins debut when they visit Chicago tonight, but Crosby's status for the game isn't known.
The groin injury that forced him to sit out a 1-0 victory Wednesday against the New York Islanders also prevented Crosby from skating in practice at Southpointe yesterday.
He is listed as day to day and plans to test his injury at the game-day skate this morning before deciding whether to dress against the Blackhawks.
"He'll come to the rink [this morning] and get treatment, and we'll see how he is," interim coach Dan Bylsma said.
Crosby said that rest is the only real treatment for his condition, and that being unable to play now is more frustrating than usual because the Penguins are battling to claim a playoff spot.
"It's always like that when you're hurt," he said, "even more so now with the race we're in."
Putting trip in focus
The Penguins will play their final game of the 2008-09 regular season April 11 in Montreal.
Lose too often on the five-game road trip that begins tonight, and their season might be all but officially over before they make it back home after a game March 8 in Washington.
"I think it's make-or-break, really, especially with the trade deadline coming up," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "This whole road trip is either going to set ourselves up or really knock ourselves back."
Crosby echoed that sentiment, and acknowledged that the Penguins have to improve on the 1-4-2 mark they've compiled their past seven away games.
"It's big," Crosby said. "Really big. We have to improve our ways on the road. There's no doubt this is the biggest trip of the year for us."
Winger Ruslan Fedotenko, however, feels it would be a mistake to attach too much emphasis to the next five games, regardless of how the Penguins fare.
He suggested there would be enough time left for them to recover from an unproductive trip, considering that they were two points out of a playoff spot before last night.
"There will still be 15 games left after that," he said. "That's 30 [potential] points. Obviously, we need to play well and win some games, but in my mind, it will be a fight to the end.
"[A three-point gap] at this point is not a lot, especially with 40 points out there to grab. [Three] points doesn't seem like a lot at all."
Kunitz looks ahead
Kunitz learned he had been traded when he was pulled off the ice during Anaheim's game-day skate yesterday in Boston.
He said last night in a phone interview while he was in a cab from the airport to the Penguins' hotel in Chicago that, while "I had considered different scenarios in my head," he hadn't expected to be traded.
That doesn't necessarily mean he was entirely unhappy about the move, however. "It's going to be tough now, but hopefully it will be something that will work in the future," he told the Orange County Register.
