Skip to Content Facebook Feature Image

Penguins place Malkin on IR; Bunting in car accident

Sport

Penguins place Malkin on IR; Bunting in car accident
Sport

Sport

Penguins place Malkin on IR; Bunting in car accident

2025-01-13 07:09 Last Updated At:07:31

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins placed center Evgeni Malkin on injured reserve on Sunday with an upper-body injury.

Malkin missed his fourth consecutive game against Tampa Bay. He was a late scratch before Tuesday’s home game against Columbus when he participated in the morning skate, but wasn’t out for pregame warmups.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said before the matchup with the Lightning that Malkin’s IR move was procedural in order to activate forward Philip Tomasino from injured reserve. Sullivan labeled Malkin as day to day.

Malkin had a streak of 209 consecutive games before the injury, the 12th-longest in team history. Pittsburgh is 1-1-1 during the current stretch without Malkin, a two-time scoring champion and 2012 Hart Trophy winner.

Malkin, who scored his 500th goal and posted his 1,300th NHL point earlier this season, has eight goals and 24 assists in 41 games.

Sullivan also said Sunday that Malkin’s linemate Michael Bunting was involved in a car accident outside of PPG Paints Arena before the game. Sullivan said Bunting is OK, but he did not play against Tampa Bay. Bunting has 13 goals and 12 assists in 43 games this season.

AP NHL: https//apnews.com/hub/nhl

Florida Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight (30) stops a shot on goal by Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Florida Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight (30) stops a shot on goal by Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Next Article

Shiffrin OK with 5th place despite missing a worlds slalom medal for the first time

2025-02-16 01:03 Last Updated At:01:10

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — All that talk about a record-breaking 16th medal. And extending her perfect run of six medals in six career slalom races at the world championships.

Mikaela Shiffrin’s array of international fans who gathered in the Austrian Alps may have entertained the thought of witnessing those achievements when the American stood third after the opening run Saturday, waving American flags and holding up signs dedicated to the most successful skier of all time.

Shiffrin herself, though, never quite expected much of anything beyond where she ultimately finished, fifth, in only her second full slalom race since she suffered severe trauma to her oblique muscles and a deep puncture wound that left her insides draining out of the side of her abdomen during a crash in a giant slalom in Killington, Vermont, 10 weeks ago.

“Today was just right in line with my expectations,” Shiffrin said. “It’s a strange place to be returning from surgery eight weeks ago, from laying in bed with a drainage tube six weeks ago, to return mid-season in the middle of world championships where everybody is talking about the medals and all the other athletes are fighting and on their top form. And I’m trying to figure out where I even stand in the sport."

While Shiffrin did pair with Breezy Johnson to win a gold in the new team combined event at these worlds, she also withdrew from defending her giant slalom title because of “PTSD-eque” fears related to her fall in Killington.

She said it’s all been “maybe one of the biggest learning experiences of my career.”

The combined gold was Shiffrin’s 15th career medal at worlds, matching the record set by German skier Christl Cranz in the 1930s. Now she’ll have to wait until the next worlds in Crans Montana, Switzerland, in two years to try and stand alone as the most decorated skier in the competition’s history.

Shiffrin had medaled in all six of her previous slalom races at the worlds, starting as a 17-year-old in 2013 when she won the first of four consecutive golds. Then she took bronze in 2021 and silver in 2023.

Now that the slalom streak is over, Shiffrin can look back and admire how special it was — rising Croatian talent Zrinka Ljutic called it “alien” — with the realization that it didn’t end because she’s no longer capable of dominating in slalom; it ended only because she’s been slowed by the two most serious crashes of her career the last two seasons.

“Yeah, I mean, anything can go wrong. And sometimes it feels like everything does go wrong. But looking back at the course of my career, just to this point — and there’s plenty more to come — it’s incredible to think about everything that my team has done … and that we’ve done together to have such consistency,” Shiffrin said.

Besides her crash in Killington, Shiffrin also hit the safety nets at high speed during a downhill last season in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on the course that will host next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics.

“The last two years have been the biggest proof to the world about how much can go wrong — even when you think you’re doing everything right,” Shiffrin said. “It makes it a little bit scary to move forward because everything feels so unknown. But I guess that’s the mentality we take. And I’m going to try to become comfortable with that unknown feeling.”

Shiffrin still finished only five hundredths of a second off the podium — or from earning a medal. Paula Moltzan, her American teammate, came even closer, finishing fourth two hundredths off the podium in a race won by Swiss skier Camille Rast.

Moltzan won a bronze in giant slalom and also finished fourth with the U.S. squad in the mixed team parallel event and combined with partner Lauren Macuga.

“My worst is fourth, so it’s OK,” Moltzan said. “I’m proud of myself. World champs is a big stage. I competed in the first event and the last event almost. And it’s been a long two weeks, but I’m happy with it.”

The 30-year-old Moltzan is less than a year older than Shiffrin, so has witnessed first-hand almost the entirety of her more accomplished teammate’s career.

“When you’ve been out for two months, it’s hard to have confidence," Moltzan said. "(Rast) has got momentum and Mikaela is just kind of starting back up. I think by the end of the season you’ll maybe see her top speed again.”

With the World Cup circuit — skiing’s regular season — starting back up again next weekend, Shiffrin plans to race in the two giant slaloms and a slalom in Sestriere, Italy. Her next win will be a record-extending No. 100.

“I kind of need to start racing GS in order to keep my start list (number) somewhat reasonable,” Shiffrin said. “But I think I can get to the point that my skiing is good enough that I can race without it being dangerous.”

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

United States' Paula Moltzan celebrates at the finish area of a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Paula Moltzan celebrates at the finish area of a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Paula Moltzan competes in a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Paula Moltzan competes in a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Paula Moltzan celebrates at the finish area of a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Paula Moltzan celebrates at the finish area of a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin warms up ahead of a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin warms up ahead of a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Fans from the Czech Republic wave a flag in support of United States' Mikaela Shiffrin at the finish area of a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Fans from the Czech Republic wave a flag in support of United States' Mikaela Shiffrin at the finish area of a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin checks her time at the finish area of a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin checks her time at the finish area of a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in a women's slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Recommended Articles