The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ 2024-25 NHL season is facing a crisis in results, with star Sidney Crosby not as comfortable as he was a week ago when he lifted the 4 Nations Face-Off trophy with Team Canada. Pens head coach Mike Sullivan has confirmed the loss of a key player.
A losing streak has left the Penguins in last place in the Metropolitan Division. Crosby, like the rest of his teammates, has shown his dissatisfaction with the team’s current form, but he went through his shooting drills with a smile on his face, accompanied by Bryan Rust.
The moment of the Pittsburgh team is not ideal to lose a player, as every day they are further away from reaching the playoffs and the dissatisfaction of the fans seems to prove that it will be a campaign to forget. In this context, Sullivan confirmed another piece of bad news.
Crosby’s teammate to miss several Penguins games
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that left winger Michael Bunting “will be out for a while” because he had surgery to remove his appendix on Wednesday, NHL insider Michelle Crechiolo reported on her X (formerly Twitter) account. The 29-year-old had missed practice because he wasn’t feeling well. “I don’t know how long he’ll be out this time,” Sullivan reiterated.
“He has an uncanny ability to score, in particular on the PP. He’s just a competitive guy. He makes it hard on our opponents. He also has an uncanny ability to irritate people out there, and that helps the group,” Sullivan praised Michael Bunting.
Other Penguins lineup changes
In addition to the loss of Bunting, the Penguins have confirmed other lineup changes. Alex Nedeljkovic will start in goal. Boko Imama, meanwhile, had missed the last four games with an upper-body injury, but is an option to take the ice. “I feel great, I feel 100%,” he said.