NEW YORK -- Sidney Crosby will miss his first game of the season because of an upper-body injury and will not play for the Pittsburgh Penguins against the New York Rangers on Friday (7 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, NHLN, MSG, SNP, SNO, SNE, TVAS).
Crosby was on the ice with his teammates for the morning skate Friday. He skated Thursday, but missed a second straight practice with the Pittsburgh Penguins because of an upper-body injury.
"Right now, we are just taking it one day at a time," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Friday. "He's not going to play tonight. Obviously he's on the ice participating in the morning skate which is encouraging from our standpoint."
Crosby last missed a regular-season game April 7, 2022, when he was out for a 3-0 loss to the Rangers because of an illness; he has played in 229 straight regular-season games. The Penguins also play at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, their final game before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20, where Crosby is set to captain Canada.
"We're taking each day as it comes," Sullivan said. "Obviously he's an important player for us and so when he's not in our lineup, he's a hard guy to replace. He's the heartbeat of this team."
The 37-year-old center went through a tip drill and the rest of his normal pre-practice routine Thursday before leaving for the auxiliary rink at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. He worked there alone while his teammates practiced on the main sheet.
Crosby was involved in a collision with New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes and forward Erik Haula midway through the third period of a 3-2 shootout loss Tuesday, seeming to favor his left arm. He returned after several minutes and took part in the shootout.
"I just got tangled up," Crosby said after that game.
When asked to clarify if it could have been his elbow, Crosby repeated, "I got tangled up."
With Crosby unable to play against the Rangers, Rickard Rakell will move up to first-line center.
Rakell had been left wing on the top line with Crosby.
"I grew up playing center and my first, I want to say, couple years in the NHL, I played center. But yeah, it was a while ago. I don't mind it," he said Thursday. "I think I have one way of playing center and then, Sid has one way of playing center and is the best at it. But I'm just going to try to play my game and not make it too complicated."
Rakell, who will play for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off, is second on the Penguins with 46 points and leads them with 24 goals.
Crosby leads the Penguins with 58 points (17 goals, 41 assists) in 55 games. He extended his point streak to five games (seven points; four goals, three assists) with an assist Tuesday, but his goal streak ended at four.
From Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, Crosby won the gold medal with Canada at the 2005 IIHF World Junior Championship in North Dakota and Minnesota, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2015 IIHF World Hockey Championship in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic. He was captain when Canada won the World Cup of Hockey 2016 in Toronto.
"I think, when you get on those teams, there's so many great leaders," Crosby said on Jan. 31. "I think, for me, just having the opportunity to play for Team Canada, be part of this group, it's been a long time. So, regardless of who's wearing the letters, I think (there are) a lot of great leaders. Just really happy to be able to play for Team Canada again."
Canada's first game at the 4 Nations Face-Off is against Sweden at Bell Centre on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).
"Sid's health first and foremost is always our priority," Sullivan said. "... Obviously that tournament means an awful lot to Sid for obvious reasons. And as his coach and someone that cares about him, I certainly want what's best for him, but also I'm hopeful that he has the opportunity to participate because it means so much to him."
The Penguins are already without second-line center Evgeni Malkin, who has missed the past four games with a lower-body injury. The last game the Penguins played without Crosby and Malkin was Nov. 13, 2021.
"High compete level. A lot of structure and good puck management," Sullivan said. "I think that's going to be an important aspect of winning games. The reality is, guys are going to get an opportunity to step up and help us win and our expectations hasn't changed. We've got capable people in the lineup. These guys have to get excited for the challenge."
The Penguins (22-24-9) are eight points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. They have missed the playoffs the past two seasons after qualifying each of the previous 16.
"Obviously when you have players of that stature out of the lineup, those guys are hard to replace," Sullivan said. "I'm stating the obviously when I say that but I think the guys that are in the lineup, I think they recognize what type of effort and what type of purpose we need to have tonight in order to have success. We're not going to replace those guys. It's impossible."
In his 20th NHL season, Crosby has averaged at least a point per game in each of his first 19, tied with Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history. He has won the Stanley Cup three times (2009, 2016, 2017) since being selected No. 1 overall in the 2005 NHL Draft, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs in 2016 and 2017.
Crosby won the Hart Trophy as League MVP and the Art Ross Trophy as scoring leader twice (2006-07; 2013-14). He had an NHL career-high 120 points (36 goals, 84 assists) in 2006-07, and had 104 points (36 goals, 68 assists) in 2013-14.
"It's not going to be easy, losing our top two forwards," Rakell said. "But it's an opportunity for us other guys to just take that opportunity and do the best we can with it."
NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report
