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Crosby skates at Penguins practice, concussion recovery remains 'day-to-day process'

Crosby skates at Penguins practice

Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby skated at the Penguins practice facility Thursday, two days after the team confirmed he was suffering from another concussion.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Crosby is focused on his rehab and didn't provide an update on the star centre's availability for Game 5 of Pittsburgh's best-of-seven Eastern Conference final with Washington.

"Sid did skate this morning and he's in the process of rehabbing," Sullivan said. "We'll leave it at that.

"It's a day-to-day process and we're taking each day as it comes."

Crosby suffered his most recent concussion, believed to be his fourth, when he was hit in the head by Washington defenceman Matt Niskanen in Game 3 of Pittsburgh's Eastern Conference semifinal against the Capitals.

He was held out of Wednesday's Game 4, which the Penguins won 3-2.

Niskanen was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for the hit, but said it was accidental and he didn't intend to injure Crosby. The NHL accepted Niskanen's account and didn't punish the defenceman further.

Pittsburgh leads the best-of-seven series 3-1 with Game 5 set for Saturday in Washington.

Crosby, a finalist for this year's Hart Trophy awarded to the NHL's most valuable player, has a history of serious head injuries.

He missed the second half of the 2010-11 season and most of 2011-12 with a concussion. He sat out two weeks after being diagnosed with another concussion last October, returning in time to play in 75 games and score an NHL-high 44 goals.

The Canadian Press