Penguins place Malkin on IR; Bunting in car accident

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins placed center Evgeni Malkin on injured reserve on Sunday with an upper-body injury.

Malkin missed his fourth consecutive game against Tampa Bay. He was a late scratch before Tuesday’s home game against Columbus when he participated in the morning skate, but wasn’t out for pregame warmups.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said before the matchup with the Lightning that Malkin’s IR move was procedural in order to activate forward Philip Tomasino from injured reserve. Sullivan labeled Malkin as day to day.

Malkin had a streak of 209 consecutive games before the injury, the 12th-longest in team history. Pittsburgh is 1-1-1 during the current stretch without Malkin, a two-time scoring champion and 2012 Hart Trophy winner.

Malkin, who scored his 500th goal and posted his 1,300th NHL point earlier this season, has eight goals and 24 assists in 41 games.

Sullivan also said Sunday that Malkin’s linemate Michael Bunting was involved in a car accident outside of PPG Paints Arena before the game. Sullivan said Bunting is OK, but he did not play against Tampa Bay. Bunting has 13 goals and 12 assists in 43 games this season.

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