Jason Zucker can't catch a break.
Zucker, playing in just his ninth game since his injury in Minnesota, left Tuesday's game against the Oilers at PPG Paints Arena with athletic trainer Chris Stewart with 2:24 remaining in the first period and did not return to the ice for the remainder of the game. It's not clear how Zucker may have sustained the injury.
Danton Heinen was elevated to the third line alongside Jeff Carter in Zucker's absence.
Mike Sullivan said after the game that Zucker was still being evaluated for a lower-body injury.
Zucker has appeared in just 41 of the Penguins' 81 games so far this season. He was sidelined for a month starting in mid-December with a core muscle injury before returning for one game on Jan. 17 in Las Vegas. He was sidelined again after that game with the same nagging injury before undergoing surgery on Jan. 25. Zucker made his return from surgery on March 31 in Minnesota, but was injured by a shove from behind in the game that aggravated his previous injury and sidelined him for nine more days.
"He's had a tough year from an injury standpoint," Sullivan said after the game.
The Penguins canceled Wednesday's scheduled practice in favor of off-ice work, so there likely won't be any kind of update on Zucker until the Penguins' practice on Thursday.
