Pittsburgh Penguins forward Rickard Rakell will be sidelined approximately six to eight weeks after undergoing surgery on his left hand Sunday.
Rakell was struck on the hand by a shot in the third period of a 5-4 home shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Typically deployed on the left wing of the top line as well as on the top power-play unit, Rakell is the team’s fourth-leading scorer with eight points (three goals, five assists) in nine games while averaging 17:44 of ice time per contest.
Rakell has the team’s second-longest active consecutive games played streak with 42 games. Defenseman Erik Karlsson paces the team at 173 games.
With Rakell sidelined, the team recalled forward Ville Koivunen from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier in the day.
