Is Sidney Crosby playing tonight against Rangers? Penguins decide on captain's availability following upper-body injury

Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby will officially miss his first game of the season on Friday night in New York against the Rangers. The Penguins captain was involved in a collision with Luke Hughes and Erik Haula during Tuesday night's 3-2 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils. He left the ice in obvious discomfort, though later returned and finished the game.

However, concern was raised when Crosby missed the next two days of practice, making his status for this weekend's games murky at best. Head coach Mike Sullivan provided the update in his pregame media availability this morning. Penguins play-by-play voice Josh Getzoff shared those comments on X (formerly Twitter):

"Sidney Crosby will not play tonight; "Taking it one day at a time"," Getzoff wrote.

Friday night will snap Sidney Crosby's streak of 229 consecutive games played, which was the longest among all Penguins players, and the longest of his 1,327-game career.

The 37-year-old has had another amazing season, racking up 58 points (17 goals, 41 assists) in 55 games, on pace to achieve his 20th straight season averaging over a point per game. This would surpass Wayne Greztky (19 seasons) for the most in NHL history.

The Penguins will be in trouble without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin

Life is going to be very difficult for the Pittsburgh Penguins without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The Pens will be missing both halves of their two-headed monster for at least one game beginning on Friday night in New York.

While Crosby is out with the upper body injury suffered on Tuesday, Malkin has been sidelined since January 25 with a lower-body injury. The 38-year-old collided with Chandler Stephenson during the Penguins' 4-1 loss to the Kraken and has yet to practice with the team since.

The Four Nations Face-Off tournament will give Malkin the chance to get healthy. However, Crosby was scheduled to captain Team Canada, and his availability is now the talk of the hockey world. We all know how important representing Canada is to Sid the Kid, so you can expect he'll do everything in his power to play at the Four Nations Face-Off.

The Penguins minus Crosby and Malkin are in New York on Friday night to face the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The puck drops at 7 p.m. EST.