Monday Night Pens Buzz: Martin, Park on the mend but the same can't be said for Crosby or Letang yet

The Pittsburgh Penguins returned from the holiday break today in preparations for Tuesday night's contest against the Carolina Hurricanes who were victorious tonight, defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-2 on home ice.

Brandon Sutter scored twice and Cam Ward made 23 saves to earn the win. Carolina took over the game in the second period, outshooting New Jersey, 13-2 and getting goals from Tuomo Ruutu and Anthony Stewart in the period. The Hurricanes (12-19-6, 30 pts) have won two straight and are 14th in the East with 30 points.

Pittsburgh (20-11-4, 44 pts) enters Tuesday trailing the New York Rangers (22-8-4, 48 pts) by four points for the conference and division lead. New York shutout the Islanders 3-0 tonight, earning their 5th straight win.

For the Penguins on the injury front, things are status quo as the Penguins remain mum on the status of Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang.

Crosby last practiced with the team on Dec 7. and the Penguins are trying to keep all of his on-ice and off-ice activities quiet for now. There has been no indication that Crosby has been forced to shutdown his workouts after suffering headaches during the week of Dec 5 - 12.