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Penguins continue on without Crosby, face Capitals

Jan 21, 2008 - 3:18 PM Washington (21-21-5) at Pittsburgh (27-17-3) 7:00 pm EST

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins again will be without reigning Hart Trophy winner Sidney Crosby when they face the Washington Capitals on Monday.

Crosby will be sidelined indefinitely after suffering a right ankle injury on Friday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He will undergo an MRI on Monday.

Without Crosby, the Penguins won for the 10th time in 12 games Saturday, posting a 2-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

"You lose the best player in the league, you've still got to be able to go out and win games and we're going to have to do it for a month, who knows, and we've got to stay in the playoff race," Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney said.

The scoring burden will likely fall on center Evgeni Malkin, who has 24 goals and 29 assists this season. Crosby's linemate has nine tallies in his last eight games.

"I have been trying as hard as I can, but I'm going to try my best," Malkin said. "I will try to be the leader of this team."

The Penguins are 6-0-0 against Washington since Malkin entered the NHL last season. Malkin has two goals and four assists against the Capitals.

Washington has won three straight and is 8-2-1 in its last 11 games. The Capitals are 13th in the Eastern Conference standings, but just four points out of the final playoff spot.

"It's just the beginning for us. We deserve to be in this spot," said Washington star Alex Ovechkin, who is second in the league with 36 goals and has scored in four straight games. "We had a terrible start of the season."