Penguins await word on Crosby after cross-check forces him out of Game 3 loss

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby left Game 3 of his team's playoff series against Washington after taking a hit to the head from Capitals defenceman Matt Niskanen.

The Penguins were in Washington's end of the ice when Niskanen cross-checked Crosby across the face with his stick. Crosby was skating by Washington goaltender Braden Holtby when he turned and faced Niskanen.

• Capitals take advantage of Crosby-less Penguins in OT win

Niskanen raised his stick and hit Crosby flush. Crosby was on the ice in obvious pain for several minutes before exiting slowly under his own power.

With Crosby out, the Penguins fell behind 2-0 before scoring twice in the final 1:53 to force overtime. But Kevin Shattenkirk's goal early in OT gave Washington a 3-2 win that cut its series deficit to 2-1.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said after the gamethat there was no immediate update on Crosby or forward Conor Sheary, who left the game after colliding with teammate Patric Hornqvist in the second period.

"We don't have any updates on our injured guys. They'll be evaluated overnight and we'll go from there," he said.

Niskanen was given a five-minute major penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct.

"It wasn't intentional. I've seen the replay in super slow-mo, it looks really bad. I caught him high," Niskanen said.

"I hope he's OK. Certainly didn't mean to injure him. It's an unfortunate play that happened really quick."

His former teammates weren't buying it.

"It's one of those things you look at it once, you see what actually happened and the next thing is watching how deliberate it was when the guy cross-checks him in the face," Pittsburgh forward ChrisKunitzsaid. "I thought all of that was kind of out of this league, but I guess not."

This wasn't the first timeCrosbytook an ugly shot to the head from a Capital.Crosbywas in the middle of an MVP run on Jan., 1, 2011, when he took an elbow to the head from Washington's DavidSteckelduring the Winter Classic, leading to a concussion that costCrosbythe better part of two years in his prime as he struggled to recover.

Crosby entered the game tied for second in scoring for Pittsburgh with 11 points, including two goals in Pittsburgh's Game 1 victory over Washington.