After sitting out the Pittsburgh Penguins loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night, the team has announced that Evgeni Malkin will not play in the 60th annual All-Star Game this Sunday due to a lower-body injury.
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Malkin had been dealing with the issue for quite some time, but he aggravated the lower-body ailment in Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Malkin missed parts of the second and third periods of that game and didn't play at all in the extra frame.
The Penguins then made Malkin a late scratch for their nationally televised Wednesday Night Rivalry game against the Chicago Blackhawks. Pittsburgh lost that match 3-2 in a shootout, marking their fourth straight loss to close out the first half.
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"With [Malkin] he won't be ready to play right after the break," general manager Jim Rutherford told the Tribune-Review. "It's probably an injury that will take a little time to heal."
While he will miss the All-Star festivities at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus from Friday-Sunday, it's also not certain if Malkin will be back when the Penguins schedule picks up with next Tuesday's game against the surprising Winnipeg Jets.
"I really won't know until we come back out of the break," Rutherford said. "He's going to be in town here during the break rehabbing. We'll have a better idea once we regroup on Monday."
NHL.com reports that Malkin had been dealing with the injury for a while and aggravated it against the Flyers.
The Penguins (26-12-8, 60 points) are second in the Metropolitan Division up to this point.
Malkin was very deserving of All-Star honors as he ranks tied for third in the NHL with 51 points and is fourth in the league with 32 assists while reading the Penguins with 19 goals and eight power play tallies.
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