Penguins star Evgeni Malkin 'week to week' with lower-body injury

For the first time this season, the Pittsburgh Penguins played without star forward Evgeni Malkin on Thursday. Things went poorly for the Pens, as they lost to the New Jersey Devils 3-2. 

Per the NHL's website, Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan told reporters on Friday that Malkin is "week to week" with the lower-body injury that landed him on the injured reserve list and will cause him to miss at least two additional games. 

Malkin suffered the injury during Tuesday's loss to the Boston Bruins. 

"Obviously, when you lose Geno, it's a tough loss from our standpoint for everything that he brings to our team," Sullivan said. "But we're certainly encouraged that we'll get him back hopefully in a timely fashion.

"He's developed a lot of chemistry with [forward Kasperi Kapanen] and those guys have been really good for us. We're hopeful we'll get him back here in a timely fashion and he continues to build on the progress that they made."

According to ESPN stats, Malkin remains third on the Penguins with 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists) and is tied for the team lead with four power-play goals. Pittsburgh is third in the NHL East standings on 37 points, only one point ahead of the Boston Bruins. The top four teams from each division qualify for the playoffs. 

Pittsburgh and New Jersey meet again on Saturday and Sunday.