Penguins send defiant messages to doubters after Sidney Crosby injury news

The Pittsburgh Penguins' hopes of qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs took a huge hit when the club confirmed on Wednesday that superstar captain Sidney Crosby had been placed on injured reserve.

He will miss at least four weeks of action due to the lower-body injury he suffered on Feb. 18 while playing for Canada during the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics men's hockey tournament. 

Later in the day, Penguins players such as veteran winger Bryan Rust made it known the club isn't tapping out on the remainder of the season just because its best player is sidelined.

The confidence Penguins had before the season isn't gone after Sidney Crosby's injury

"I’ll tell you about this team," Rust explained, as Josh Yohe of The Athletic shared on Thursday. "There was a confidence in this room, a confidence when we were 0-0 before the season even started."

Numerous writers made it known ahead of the campaign that they believed the Penguins were rebuilding or even "tanking," so much so that some wondered at the time if Pittsburgh could make Crosby and/or fellow Penguins icon Evgeni Malkin available to advertised contenders ahead of the March 6 trade deadline. Instead, the Penguins found early success and then remained one of the league's positive surprises en route to entering the Olympic break at 29-15-12 and in the second playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division standings.

"That confidence we had at the beginning of the season, it’s still there," Rust continued. "There is a belief. There’s a chip on our shoulders right now. There’s an F-U attitude at the moment. We know what the expectations were outside of this room entering the season, but we also know what the expectations were in this room. We believed from the beginning." 

There is, of course, no way of knowing as of the final Thursday of February when Crosby may return to action. After all, the "at least" portion of the injury update suggests the 38-year-old won't be his best self when the final week of March gets underway. 

Meanwhile, Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now previously noted that the Penguins have 19 games in 34 days, beginning with Thursday's home matchup versus the New Jersey Devils (28-27-2). That said, Pittsburgh center Noel Acciari challenged his teammates "to pick up the slack" while Crosby is unavailable. 

Penguins players "owe" Sidney Crosby for his previous contributions

"You don’t replace Sid, obviously. But think about how many times he’s bailed us out this season," Acciari said. "I think we owe it to him to play our best hockey and be in a good position when he comes back. And you know he’ll be ready to go when he gets back. He’ll come back even stronger and better."

According to ESPN stats, Crosby began Thursday leading the Penguins with 59 points and 27 goals on the season. Pittsburgh can't simply replace such production with a next-man-up mentality, but the Pens nevertheless don't view themselves as underdogs without their captain. 

"There is no doubt in my mind that we can keep playing like we have been, that we can keep winning," Rust added. "Listen, I know people are going to doubt us. They can doubt us all they want. That’s fine. We intend on proving them wrong."