Sidney Crosby Out Indefinitely with a broken jaw

Awful news confirmed today by the Penguins: captain Sidney Crosby is out indefinitely with a broken jaw. From the team:

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby underwent surgery Saturday night for a broken jaw and will be out indefinitely.

The Penguins will have an update on the time frame later this week.

Crosby, the NHL's leading scorer, was struck in the face with a puck during the Penguins' 2-0 victory over the New York Islanders Saturday at CONSOL Energy Center. He also underwent major dental work and will have additional dental work later in the week.

It's a dagger for Crosby, who's 10 points up on Tampa's Steven Stamkos for the Hart Trophy race. It's worse for the Pens, who with Evgeni Malkin returning (and just getting Jarome Iginla and Brenden Morrow up) haven't had their full compliment of forwards for more than 90 seconds that it took in yesterday's game for Crosby to be injured.

The "unofficial" word around the team, according to the Trib's Rob Rossi is that Crosby hasn't suffered any concussion type symptoms and ought to be ready for the NHL playoffs, which begin around the beginning of May. Whether or not Crosby will be able to return any quicker than that is not known at this time. Players have played with extra jaw protection before, but with the Penguins running away with the Atlantic division, it's probably the best bet to get their superstar as close to 100% as possible for the playoffs.

A better timetable of the injury is expected later this week.