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Zucker driven by 'joy of being out there' through toughest year of career

Jason Zucker hasn't had the greatest luck this season when it comes to injuries, to say the least.

Zucker appeared in just 41 of the Penguins' 82 regular-season games, missing exactly half of the season. He was sidelined for a month starting in mid-December with a sports hernia before returning for one game on Jan. 17 in Las Vegas. He was sidelined again after that game with the same nagging injury before undergoing core muscle repair surgery on Jan. 25. Zucker made his return from surgery on March 31 in Minnesota, but was injured by a shove from behind in the game that aggravated his previous injury and sidelined him for nine more days.