Drive to the Net: Crosby making foes scarce

I knew Sidney Crosby wouldn't agree.

"Am I getting more space out there? Really?" the captain came back in basically repeating my question, this after his 26th goal sparked the Penguins past the Hurricanes, 3-2, Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena. "No, I wouldn't say that at all. I wouldn't say there's space out there."

Yep. So predictable.

And humble.

And, with all due respect, demonstrably wrong.

See, Crosby isn't just a great hockey player. He's the greatest hockey player on the planet. And with all due respect to a handful of others, including Evgeni Malkin, there currently isn't a close second.

For one, he's now, after this goal, leading the NHL in scoring despite missing the first six games:

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For another, his consistency has been ... I'm not sure I've got the adjective for it, but he's produced at least one goal in 21 of his 31 games, at least one point in 26 of them. And he's doing so in a league that's still sitting at historic lows for overall scoring, a situation that's all but invisible in Pittsburgh where we're perennially spoiled with goals galore.

This shouldn't be happening. Not for anyone. But it is.

"No one's at Sid's level right now," Eddie Johnston, the franchise patriarch, was telling me after this one. He then raised his hand high over his head. "He's way up here, and everyone else is just looking up. And he's doing it night after night after night."

He shook his head.

"It's scary."