Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and forward Chris Kunitz could play in the team's preseason game this Saturday after being held out of the team's first two exhibition games Monday and Tuesday due to unspecified injuries while Evgeni Malkin still isn't practicing.
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Crosby and Kunitz practiced on Thursday and first-year coach Mike Johnston believes the pair could return to the lineup for Saturday's home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, which is the third-to-last game on the team's exhibition slate.
"Crosby and Kunitz look good. I would expect if practice goes well [Friday], I'm hoping they will be cleared to play on Saturday," Johnston told NHL.com.
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Crosby and Kunitz have been dealing with unspecified injuries while Malkin has been doing the same but doesn't seem to be near a return.
Crosby won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's MVP last season after pacing the league with 104 points and 68 assists while Kunitz had 35 goals, 33 assists and 68 points in 73 games and Malkin registered 23 tallies, 49 helpers and 72 points in 60 contests.
The Penguins are coming off of a 51-24-7 finish with 109 points a season ago where Pittsburgh clinched the first ever Metropolitan Division crown, but the team struggled in its opening round playoff matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets before eventually defeating them in six games.
Things didn't get any better in the second round as the Penguins took a 3-1 series lead over the New York Rangers only to allow them to come back and win the series in seven games. The Rangers eventually went on to the Stanley Cup Final while the Penguins questioned what went wrong in the team's attempt to reach the final for the first time since 2009.
Failing to get to the Eastern Conference Finals -- as they did in 2012-13 before falling to the Boston Bruins -- the Penguins opted to get rid of general manager Ray Shero and head coach Dan Bylsma and replace them with Jim Rutherford and Johnston.
Now, the team is just hoping to have its top stars healthy entering a new campaign with a different regime.
The Penguins open up their regular season slate on Oct. 9 when they host the Anaheim Ducks at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
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