PENS TAKE ON ISLES, MINUS McCANN

The Penguins finally get back on the ice tonight when they take on the New York Islanders in Brooklyn. The team downgraded forward Jared McCann from “day-to-day” – in the words of assistant coach Todd Reardon, to “week-to-week”. McCann suffered a lower body injury last Saturday against the Islanders.

Center Evgeni Malkin left practice with an eye irritation but is not expected to miss tonight’s game. Defenseman Marcus Pettersson practiced in a gray “no contact” jersey. He’s been out since being injured on January 19^th against the Capitals.

Sidney Crosby says he doesn’t know much about new general Manager Ron Hextall and Director of Hockey Operations Brian Burke. He says the players are excited to have the new men at the top, but they’ve been too focused on hockey to think about the changes in the front office.

Crosby says the challenges of injuries and covd-19 postponements have made this a different type of hockey season, but they knew coming in that there would be situations that would they would need to deal with.