Sidney Crosby leaves Penguins' win with another lower-body injury

This is a concern for the Penguins because Crosby is not only their captain, but he is also their best player and still one of the best players in the world. He already missed 11 games coming out of the Olympic break due to a lower-body injury in the quarterfinals of the tournament. He returned this past week and played in five games before leaving on Thursday.

He was reportedly walking around the Penguins locker room after the game in a suit and not in any noticeable pain. 

The timing of it is rough for the Penguins given how close the Eastern Conference playoff race is at the moment. They are one point ahead of both the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders for the second spot in the Metropolitan Division, and two points ahead of the Ottawa Senators who are on the outside of the playoff picture in the wild-card race. 

They are also already playing without Evgeni Malkin. Malkin previously missed five games this month due to a suspension and was then recently sidelined with an upper-body injury. 

The Penguins have mostly played well without one (or both) of them this season, and they might have to continue doing that for the foreseeable future. The one thing that is really given them a chance to still compete, aside from some underrated forward depth, is the fact defenseman Erik Karlsson is currently playing at an incredible level. He did so again on Thursday with three more points (one goal, two assists) to help the Penguins get their win. He has been one of the best players in the NHL since returning from the Olympic break with 22 points in the first 15 games since then.