Sidney Crosby makes season debut for Penguins vs. Panthers

Sidney Crosby made his season debut in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Tuesday game against the Florida Panthers.

Crosby suffered a concussion during an Oct. 7 practice and rejoined his teammates for a full-contact practice on Monday. Crosby had been skating on his own before then.

Crosby missed parts of 2010-11 and 2011-12 because of concussions. During that stretch he played in 63 of Pittsburgh’s 164 regular season games.

At Monday’s practice, Crosby worked on a line with Scott Wilson and Patric Hornqvist as well as the No. 1 power play unit with Hornqvist, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Justin Schultz.

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“Just to get on the ice with the guys yesterday regardless of anything, that’s a good step. That’s encouraging,” Crosby said according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “That’s fun to get out there with them. As you get closer and go through that stuff, it gets you excited.”

The last time we saw Crosby playing a meaningful NHL game was June 12, 2016 when he hoisted the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“He had a really good practice yesterday,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said after morning skate. “He responded very well. He had a real good practice this morning. Everything’s pointed in the right direction that he feels comfortable that he’s ready to go back in the lineup. If that’s the case, then he’ll play.”

The Penguins’ game has been uneven without Crosby, who is considered by many to be the NHL’s best player. They’re 3-2-1 and rank 29th in the NHL with 2.00 goals scored per-game.

“He makes our team more difficult to play against,” Sullivan said. “He creates that much more balance throughout our lineup. I think we present more difficult match-ups for our opponents when he’s in the lineup because he commands so much attention. The rest of our lineup enjoys a lot of the benefit of that, because someone’s going to get an advantageous matchup.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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