ST. PAUL, Minn. — This was supposed to be a night to celebrate for Jason Zucker, with his friends and family in the building, cheering him on as he returned to both the Pittsburgh lineup and the place he called home for nearly a decade.
But midway through the second period Thursday, Xcel Energy Center went eerily quiet as the veteran forward, a fan favorite here in Minnesota, writhed in pain on the ice after a dangerous hit near the boards by the Wild’s Kevin Fiala.
Concerned teammates looked on for about a minute until Zucker was helped to his feet. With Zucker unable to put weight on his right leg, Sidney Crosby and Mike Matheson steered him to the bench, then he limped down the tunnel.
Zucker, back in the Penguins lineup after missing 30 games, did not return.
“It was awful. You obviously hate to see it,” starter Casey DeSmith said. “We see him working hard every day, rehabbing and trying to get back as fast as he can. So just to have that happen in his first game back was pretty heartbreaking.”
The Penguins would win, 4-3, in overtime. But they may have suffered another long-term injury to a key player with the start of the playoffs a month away.
“He’s being evaluated as we speak. Hopefully, it won’t be anything too significant. We’ll have to wait and see,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I feel for him. He’s worked so hard to get back to this point and I know this was an important game for him, coming back to Minnesota, where he spent a lot of his career.”
Sullivan added that the Penguins would wait to see how he responds overnight. They should provide a status update before Saturday’s game at Colorado.
Even though they won a thriller, their post-game press conference was somber. John Marino said it was “painful” to watch Zucker, a popular teammate, get injured again. Jake Guentzel called the play on which he was injured “scary.”
As the puck wrapped around the boards, Zucker had position on Fiala, boxing him out so he could scoop it up. But Fiala gave him a nudge from behind and Zucker lost his footing and slammed awkwardly into the wall. He stayed down as the Penguins went the other way, with Rickard Rakell scoring to make it 3-1.
The referees whistled pretty much everything Thursday. But not that play.
In pain and presumably in disbelief, Zucker headed to the dressing room with an injury that could once again sideline the winger for an extended period.
Prior to Thursday, Zucker had played just one game in 2022 due to a core muscle injury, which needed to be surgically repaired on Jan. 25. Zucker started skating on an individual basis in early March and returned to practice on Saturday.
After Thursday’s morning skate, Sullivan said he was excited to get him back.
“Zuck can be invaluable to our team,” Sullivan said. “He’s just a good player on both sides of the puck. He makes us harder to play against. He’s a gritty guy. He’s good in the battle areas. He’s hard at the net front. He’s an important player for us. To get him back makes us a better team in so many different ways.”
Zucker skated on the second line with Evgeni Malkin and Rakell, the latter of whom scored twice Thursday. He picked up a point in his first shift of the night.
Zucker patiently played with the puck in the right circle before banking a pass back to John Marino at the point. Rakell redirected his shot past Cam Talbot.
“He’s a big part of this team on and off the ice,” Marino said. “Just having him back I think was a spark for us, too. You could see it the first couple of periods.”
Moments later, during a TV timeout, the Wild aired a tribute video to their former 30-goal scorer. Thursday was his first game back in Minnesota since the Penguins traded for him in February of 2020. Zucker politely waved to the crowd.
“It’s exciting to be back,” he said after the morning skate, with several Minnesota reporters on hand to chronicle his return. “It seems crazy that it’s been this long. But it’s always good to be back in this building. A lot of good memories.”
He also expressed excitement to get back on the ice for the Penguins so he could, better health permitting, make more of an impact than he had to date.
“Hopefully I can get past this and start playing some hockey,” Zucker said.
The Penguins scored twice in the first half of the second to take a 3-1 lead.
Guentzel, who grew up a few miles from Xcel Energy Center, buried a rebound on the power play. They have scored at least one power-play goal in six straight games. Kris Letang earned his 500th career assist on that Guentzel goal.
Then Rakell got his second goal of the game and third with the Penguins.
Former Penguins forward Freddy Gaudreau got the Wild back within a goal late in the second period. Early in the third, Kirill Kaprizov slashed through the slot to blast a one-timer past DeSmith, who was making his first start in eight days.
Despite losing Zucker and blowing that two-goal lead, the Penguins stuck with it and secured the win. Malkin beat Talbot with 1:03 remaining in overtime. That tied him with Jaromir Jagr for tops in team history with 78 game-winning goals.
“I loved it,” Sullivan proudly said of the Penguins’ performance. “I thought it was a complete effort top to bottom. I thought it was a great hockey game on both sides. … I just really liked our resilience throughout the course of the game.”
Matt Vensel: mvensel@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mattvensel.
First Published: April 1, 2022, 2:56 a.m.
