Pittsburgh Penguins center Nick Bonino is out indefinitely with a hand injury, coach Mike Sullivan said Thursday.

"He's not going to be short-term," Sullivan told the Penguins website. "I'm reluctant to put a timeframe on it quite yet. But we're going to miss him for a little while."

General manager Jim Rutherford said Bonino could be out at least a month, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Bonino returned to Pittsburgh after sustaining the injury in the third period of the Penguins' 3-2 overtime loss at the Carolina Hurricanes.

He has 10 points in 40 games as a third-line center and also is a key forward on the Penguins' fifth-ranked penalty kill. He's third among Penguins forwards in shorthanded ice time per game at 2:26.

Sullivan said Eric Fehr will move into Bonino's spot on the third line. He said a number of players will fill in for Bonino on the penalty kill, specifically mentioning Bryan Rust and Tom Kuhnhackl.

"He's going to be missed in a lot of areas," Sullivan said. "He's a really smart player. He's been a big part of the penalty kill. He's a guy that you can lean on to take faceoffs in the defensive zone when you need him."

The Penguins play at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, TVA Sports, ROOT).