Kovacevic: No one wants -- or commands -- this series more than Sid

Try to envision, even if for an exquisite split-second, Sidney Crosby having yet another crack.

Now, try to envision the degree to which he's envisioning it.

No, I'm not talking about this kind of crack ...

... pivotal as that power-play poke past Igor Shesterkin was toward launching the Penguins' 7-2 evisceration of the Rangers in Game 4 of this first-round Stanley Cup playoff series Monday night at PPG Paints Arena, one that put them another W away from their first chin-up handshakes in four years.

Rather, I'm talking about another crack at the Cup.

I'm talking about this:

Look at the eyes of Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust, locked in the same direction to the left of the net. Look at Rust pointing that way with his left glove.

Then understand that, a moment earlier, the former scored off a superb feed from the latter, and a far more common reaction might've seen them look toward each other ... if not for the author -- and quality -- of the second assist on the sequence:

No sooner is the puck off Jake's blade than both he and Rust whirl around to find the captain, whose spinning, circling effort upon penetrating the New York blue line was ... well, what we've forever come to expect.

And, more pertinent here, what they've come to expect.

Sid starts, and they finish. Sid leads, and they follow. Sid wins, and they all win.

In taking this 3-1 series lead, with Game 5 set for Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, all Sid's achieved to date:

• Goals: 2
• Assists: 7
• Points: 9
• Multiple-point games: 4
• Shots: 18
• Faceoffs: 55.65%
• Corsi For 5v5: 59.88%

The points are one behind the NHL-leading 10 of the Avalanche's Cale Makar, the assists are tied with Makar's league-leading seven, and the faceoff winning percentage is third among the league's top 25 takers of draws. 

In this game alone, Sid wound up with a goal and two assists, all part of the Penguins overcoming an opening-minute deficit to commandeer a 3-1 by 3:38 of the second period, with Jake's above goal and this one from Mike Matheson coming 24 ticks apart:

I can't say with any conviction what's gotten into him. He's 34 going on 24. He's buzzing, grinding, creating at a level that, honestly, I haven't seen in quite some time. Certainly not in the playoffs, where he'd contributed a total of three goals and three assists over 14 games over those three consecutive first-round exits.

Asking Sid himself is an epic waste of time, given his unfailing humility.

"I don't know," he'd reply to a question on the topic after the game. "I think, you know, everybody wants to play well in the playoffs, to compete every night. I thought tonight we generated some good chances as a line and executed on a few. So I just want to continue the same way. I haven't really thought about it that way. It's playoff hockey. You just try to go out there and compete the best you can."

His coach went way further, as he's wont to do when it comes to this player.

"Well, he's playing really well for us," Mike Sullivan came back when asked if this is some of the best he's seen from Sid in the playoffs. "You know, he's played some real good hockey in the playoffs in my time here, so that bar is really high. But I will say he's playing a real complete game, both sides of the puck. He's playing an inspired game. I think he inspires the group just through his actions when he's when he's on his game the way he is right now."

It's almost as if we all -- and they -- look to him for that.

• As illustrated above, that's a pretty sweet career plateau he hit, too.

• This is cool, too: Sid's 30 playoff points against the Rangers are now the most anyone's produced against New York, passing Jean Beliveau in that category. 

• One more: Sid's now the all-time leading playoff scorer against three teams, additionally including the Senators and, of course, the Flyers. The only other player in NHL history to be the all-time leading playoff scorer against as many as three teams: Wayne Gretzky, who holds that distinction against the Jets, Flames and Canucks.

• Never, ever, ever take him for granted, Pittsburgh.

• Which those who bought tickets for Games 3 and 4 didn't, by the way:

Not going to lie -- and I put this into print upon leaving New York -- but I didn't expect PPG Paints Arena to come close to the Garden's atmosphere in Games 1 or 2, and it matched that, possibly exceeding it with this Game 4. 

"Awesome," Teddy Blueger called it, and he might've been underselling. It hadn't been like this since Chris Kunitz's knuckler past Craig Anderson.

• The Penguins' other four goals -- Mark Friedman, Danton Heinen, Jeff Carter, Evgeni Malkin, the sixth of which chased Shesterkin for a second consecutive game -- came about, as so many have in this series, as a result of traffic, tips, deflections and/or rebounds:

This wasn't at all how the Penguins performed through the regular season, as I'd point out in a question for Sullivan.

His answer was a veritable clinic.

"Well, it's just an important aspect of trying to score goals in today's NHL," he began. "The goalies are too good, you know, and we're playing against one of the best. So the more we can limit the goaltender's sight lines, the better. This isn't revolutionary stuff. You know, it's pretty common-sensical. If we can make it hard for him to see the puck, he might make a positional save but can't control the rebound or might create a next-play opportunity for us."

Following a momentary pause, he proceeded, "It's hard to win games consistently in the playoffs -- or the regular season, for that matter -- if you're a team that can only generate offense a certain way. If you're just a rush team, for example, most good defensive teams are going to take the rush away. They're going to have numbers back, they're going to back-pressure on the puck, they're going to track to the slot ... so if that isn't there, you've gotta find ways to create offense different ways. I think the grind game's an important aspect, not just about scoring goals, but controlling momentum and controlling territory and forcing your opponent to have to expend energy defending you. It has a trickle down effect in so many different ways."

One more breath, then, "So, you know, we've preached to our team all year long that we have to evolve and become a team that can create offense different ways. We can't get stubborn. We've gotta take what the game gives us."

See, another coach might just scream at them to go to the net.

• Encouraging as it's become to see half the roster morph into Patric Hornqvist clones, I've got to stress that the 200-foot, in-your-face defending felt like a far more prominent factor.

But just to confirm:

"We just backchecked really well," he'd reply. "We got some big blocks. Our penalty-kill's been been solid, I think, especially the past couple games. It's playoff hockey, you know?"

• Danny Shirey has tons more on the defending -- especially on the rush -- with a Drive to the Net.

• The degree to which Sullivan's outcoaching Gerard Gallant to this stage of series can't be overstated.

Bear in mind: Coaching in the playoffs doesn't begin in the playoffs but way back in training camp. And if there's anything general the Penguins are doing different tactically -- from any point of the season, including the four meetings with the Rangers -- it sure hasn't been visible from this press box perspective.

Asked what might be different in any way, all Sullivan could come up with was, "I just think the guys are playing hard. We're playing hard. This is a player's game. These guys, they're on the same page, there's a commitment to playing the right way. And they're helping one another out. We talk a lot about collective effort, and that's the team game that we need to have. All three zones. Both sides of the puck."

Now, contrast that with whatever Gallant thought he might accomplish with this Michel Therrien Lite opening answer on the other side: "One goal, two goals ... played soft ... was soft all over the ice. That's the biggest difference. We're soft all over the ice."

He's not mistaken. Scan through all seven goals again, purely from a New York prism, and it's excruciatingly evident how little effort was given by so many.

But who's ultimately responsible for how hard a team plays any game, much less a critical one in the playoffs?

The Rangers' forecheck has been a mess, and their defensive structure has been close to nonexistent.

Who's responsible for that?

Strange tactic to take.

• Chris Kreider was struck near the throat by a ricocheted Adam Fox shot in the second period. It was a scary scene, as he slumped over, then made his way quickly down the visitors' tunnel.

He was back for the third period, complete with this visible welt where the puck struck:

We calling him soft, too?

• If Gallant could've called out anyone individually as soft, it would've been Shesterkin, who appeared to wilt under the weight of the crowd's taunts.

And sure, I know that can't be proven, but when guy's got a .952 save percentage at the Garden and is a complete catastrophe here -- 10 goals on 45 shots for a 10.02 goals-against average and a farcical .778 save percentage -- it's fair to put the burden of proof where it belongs, right?

Could that be the reason Gallant immediately declared Shesterkin his Game 5 starter, minutes after Alexandar Georgiev again performed miles better in the third period?

That he can't handle an opposing crowd?

If so, that'd make him softer than the old Charmin bear:

• I suppose it also can't be ruled out that Carter killed him the other night. Being that he was dead and all.

• Speaking of goaltending, the only prediction I've made over the past week that was worse -- maybe -- than picking the Rangers in five was this gem earlier in the day:

Turns out Louis Domingue had to make only 22 saves and, according to Natural Stat Trick, a whopping two came on high-danger chances. He apparently earned No. 3 star for his charming disposition.

• Taylor Haase has tons more on the hilarious goaltending disparity in a full article.

• Yeah, about those two New York high-danger chances: The Penguins had, um, 22.

This is rare air. This was the sort of thing that used to happen to expansion teams decades ago.

• The Internet remains undefeated:

• Wrapping this one up before packing anew, let's just update the data list I've been compiling through the series, in which the Penguins now lead in:

• Wins: 3-1
• Goals: 20-14
• Shots: 202-168
• Shot attempts: 335-288
• Scoring chances: 186-130
• High-danger chances: 93-42
• Faceoffs: 147-117

That's not interesting.

• Thanks for reading this! Stop Downtown and see us today, eh?

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
2. Jake Guentzel, Penguins LW
3. Louis Domingue, Penguins G

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• Tristan Jarry, goaltender, is out with a broken bone in his foot. His status is day-to-day. He skated on his own before the morning session for the third time Monday, taking some lighter shots toward the end from goaltending coach Andy Chiodo.

• Rickard Rakell, forward, is out with a head injury. His status is day-to-day. He joined the team's skate in a non-contact sweater, his first such participation since he was hurt in Game 1.

• Brian Dumoulin, defenseman, is out with a lower-body injury. His status is day-to-day. He's yet to resume skating.

• Casey DeSmith, goaltender, is done for the season after having core muscle surgery last Friday.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Heinen-Malkin-Kapanen
Zucker-Carter-McGinn
Boyle-Blueger-Rodrigues

Matheson-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Friedman-Ruhwedel

And for Gallant's Rangers:

Kreider-Zibanejad-Vatrano
Panarin-Strome-Copp
Lafreniere-Chytil-Kakko
Rooney-Brodzinski-Reaves

Braun-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Nemeth-Schneider

THE SCHEDULE

There's a practice set for Tuesday, noon, in Cranberry, after which the team will fly right back to New York in advance of Game 4 the next night at Madison Square Garden.

THE CONTENT

Visit our team page for everything.