Penguins’ Kunitz out ‘longer-term’ with lower-body injury

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Chris Kunitz. (Gene J. Puskar/AP).

Chris Kunitz is out “longer-term” for the Pittsburgh Penguins with a lower-body injury, head coach Mike Sullivan announced on Sunday.

Sullivan had said in an update on Saturday there’s no timetable for Kunitz’s return. The Penguins have four games remaining in the season after Sunday’s matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes.

It’s unclear when Kunitz suffered the injury but he did play in the team’s last game on Friday, a 4-3 shootout win against the New York Rangers. Josh Archibald was recalled from the Penguins AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, earlier Sunday and will take Kunitz’s place in the lineup.

Kunitz joins a long-list of Penguins players who are currently out of the lineup with injuries. Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Carl Hagelin, Trevor Daley and Olli Maatta have all missed time recently with injuries. Ron Hainsey, who missed seven games with upper-body injury, did return to the Penguins lineup on Friday against the Rangers. Sunday’s game against the Hurricanes will be his first against his former team since the Penguins acquired him in a trade on Feb. 23.

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