Pittsburgh Penguins: Hossa Hurt In Debut

The Pittsburgh honeymoon turned into a Boston nightmare for Marian Hossa in Beantown on Thursday.

Hossa suffered a grade one medial collateral sprain, after colliding knee on knee with Boston forward Glen Murray.  The injury occurred in the second period as the Pittsburgh Penguins fell 5-1 to the Bruins at the TD Banknorth Garden.

It's not known at this time how long Hossa will be out of the Penguins lineup.  An injury of this magnitude usually keeps a player out for at least two weeks.  The team is already without superstar center Sidney Crosby, who has missed the past 19 games due to a high ankle sprain.

Hossa was making his debut with the Penguins after arriving in a trade from Atlanta on Tuesday.  The all-star right winger played just over ten minutes on 14 shifts, and registered one shot on net.

Marco Sturm scored twice for Boston, the team's fifth straight win.  David Krecj, Zdeno Chara, and P.J Axelsson also tallied for the Bruins, who remained in a sixth place tie with the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference with 74 points.

Pascal Dupuis had the lone Penguin goal.  He too was playing his first game in a Pittsburgh uniform, coming over with Hossa from the Thrashers.

Bruins net minder, Tim Thomas, came within seven minutes of recording his second consecutive shutout.  On Tuesday, Thomas put up a brick wall in a 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh puck stopper Ty Conklin was pulled by Coach Michel Therrien after allowing Chara's goal in the second period.  In fairness to Conklin, who allowed three goals on 13 shots, the shot deflected off the leg of Pens forward Petr Sykora. 

Conklin was replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury, who made his first appearance with the Penguins since last December.  Fleury was recovering from a high ankle sprain, similar to the one suffered by Crosby.