No matter how grim the details of their 6-3 loss to Florida at the BankAtlantic Center last night were, the Penguins didn't have nearly as bad a night as they could have.
Mostly because of the news they got about 20 minutes after the game, when word arrived that X-rays on Sidney Crosby's left foot, which was struck by a shot at 8:25 of the third period, did not detect a fracture.
Although Crosby was limping badly after the game and seems questionable -- at best -- for the Penguins' game at 5:08 p.m. tomorrow at Tampa, Fla., he won't miss nearly as much time as he might have if something had been broken.
"I'll see how it feels [today]," he said.
Crosby said he made a conscious effort to block the shot that injured him -- "I just turned a little bit and [the puck] got me on the side of the foot" -- and that going back on the ice for one shift after he was hurt convinced him to call it a night.
"I had a lot of pain," he said. "I just said, 'Forget it. Stay off of it.' There was no point getting hit there again, or anything like that"
Crosby was injured on a night when defenseman Dick Tarnstrom, who had missed the previous 12 games because of a knee injury, returned to the Penguins' lineup.