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Penguins' Michael Bunting 'OK' After Suffering Car Accident

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Antonio Losada | Last updated Jan 13, 2025 6:35 AM ET

The Pittsburgh Penguins were dealt another blow on Sunday as forward Michael Bunting was ruled out of their 5–2 home loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning following a car accident outside PPG Paints Arena.

Head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed the incident during his pregame availability, noting that while everyone involved was okay, Bunting would not be available to play.

"Everybody's okay, yeah," Sullivan said, per The Hockey News. "[Bunting] was involved in it. In the accident out there. He won't play tonight, but he's okay."

According to THN's Kelsey Surmacz's report, Penguins assistant coach Mike Velucci was also at the scene of the accident, but seemingly suffered no injuries either.

The 29-year-old winger has been a consistent contributor for Pittsburgh this season, with 13 goals and 25 points in 43 games.

His absence compounded the Penguins' challenges of late, as the team was already without star center Evgeni Malkin.

Before Sunday's loss, the Penguins announced Malkin's placement on injured reserve, ruling him out for the next three games following the loss to the Lightning.

Forward Philip Tomasino has been activated from Injured Reserve and forward Evgeni Malkin has been placed on IR. pic.twitter.com/dBHl41IKP5
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 12, 2025

Tampa Bay defeated the Penguins on Sunday coming from behind after Pittsburgh took the lead in the first period thanks to a goal by Rickard Rakell. The Penguins tied the game after falling down 2-1 but the Lightning scored three unanswered goals in the third period, all inside the 3:03 final minutes of play and the last two scored on empty-net situations.

Pittsburgh has lost six of its last seven games with its lone victory coming on Thursday against the Stanley Cup finalists Edmonton Oilers. The team is 18-19-8 through the first 45 games of the season and sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference wild-card race trailing second-place Columbus by two points.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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