SAN JOSE, Calif. -- There's only one Sidney Crosby, of course, and on so many stratospheric levels.
But to be blunt, that's a problem.
Because, even as these Penguins could take a collective deep sigh upon burying the bottom-feeding Sharks, 3-1, on this Tuesday night at SAP Center to fly home with 2-1 California trip, their living legend of a captain illustrated yet again the stuff they all need to be doing to succeed as a team ... and pretty much within a one-man spectacle:
That's a secondary assist on Rickard Rakell's early icebreaker. No big deal. Chipped the puck in the direction of Jeff Petry.
But wait. As ever with Sid, it's about the body of work and what it brings:
That's a blast of an open-ice check on San Jose's Michael Eyssimont, later that period. And uh, yeah.
I'd ask Sid afterward if the hit just lined up, or if he'd been trying to send a message, and he'd reply with a playful head shake, "No, it just kinda lined up. There aren't too many games I'm looking to line up people."
For sure. But it happened. And it happened within the broader context of covering all 200x85 of ice with a stirring mix of speed, skill, diligence and outright dominance.
From the routine, such as this high-octane backcheck to cover for Brian Dumoulin being trapped:
Or this relative absurdity:
I mean ... come on.
I'd ask Sid if Jake Guentzel had called for that puck, and I got back another playful head shake.
Danny Shirey has much more on this sequence in his Freeze Frame.
Here's Sid being there for Rakell on a power-play retrieval late in the second:
Here's Sid brusquely muscling the Sharks' Noah Gregor off a 50/50 puck midway through the third while protecting a one-goal lead:
And here's Sid springing Jake for the 1,598,713th empty-net goal of the latter's season:
Look, this isn't to downplay or dismiss Casey DeSmith's 38-save bounceback gem, Rakell's three points of his own, Jake's two goals or other whatever else. It's just that the summation of Sid's evening might as well represent everything this vexing group needs to be generating as a whole. At least if it's to go anywhere at all beyond the now-annual first-round playoff bounce.
Even if Sid will downplay his own contribution toward any cause into eternity.
Usually, anyway.
Watch our whole exchange afterward:
Don't skip that. Press play. It's worth it.
The playful head shakes are one thing if I'm asking about fun oddities like the hit on Eyssimont or the pass to Jake, but this was different.
I mentioned to the man that he seemed even more fired up than usual, and he replied, "Yeah."
I asked if he was hoping that's something that carries over to the rest of the team, and he replied, "Yeah, I think it's ... you know, it's fine. I mean, you don't want to be in this position per se. I think you'd love to be where Boston is. But that's not the reality, and I think that should bring out the best in us. I think you get up for these games, and there are points where you're playing these games out and there's a different mentality. But this is a mentality where every point matters. Every game from here on is important. We've gotta embrace that."
That, my friends, is what really went on here.
As I'd confirm in asking Sullivan if Sid looked like he emerged ready to set the tone: "He had a big game for us. I think he recognizes the importance of a response game after a humbling loss in L.A. He always seems to know when we need him to elevate his game, and he does that for us. He had a strong game for us tonight."
The humbling came Saturday by a 6-0 count. The greater and more immediately influential humbling, as I'd hear in the locker room after this one, came two Saturdays earlier with the 6-4 loss to these same Sharks back at PPG Paints Arena, a showing I'd pin as absolute rock bottom to date.
This one was ... OK. Although the Sharks still have more offensive weapons than most, allowing DeSmith to see 39 shots wasn't part of the optimal script. Neither was allowing 18 of the game's 31 high-danger chances.
Sid acknowledged that in our talk, saying, "I think we're better than this. I think we can possess the puck a little bit more, give teams a little bit less. But that's the consistency that we've gotta find."
Sullivan would add on the subject, "I think we can do a better job with just our commitment to five-man defense in all three zones. We didn't manage the puck very well in the high ice in the offensive zone, and I thought we fed their transition game a little bit. ... I don't think there's any question we've got to continue to make strides at playing a stingier game away from the puck."
Kinda like Sid driving 62.3% of possession for the Penguins and being on the ice for 7 of their 13 high-danger chances, compared to just 3 of San Jose's 18?
It doesn't need to be all that layered. Just follow the leader.
GETTY
The Penguins and Sharks scramble around Casey DeSmith's crease in the second period Tuesday night in San Jose, Calif.
• Man, DeSmith was sharp. Especially his actions and aggressiveness down low, when coupled with keeping his shoulders high and square to the shooters. Could see it right from the start. Danny's got all that, too.
• Tristan Jarry's status ... eh, I'm done with that topic until he returns.
• On three distinct occasions, but one above all in the first period, Drew O'Connor was a human forecheck, bulldozing his way -- with or without the puck -- deep into the San Jose zone to gain possession. On that first one, he achieved greater visibility than anything witnessed from Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen combined in maybe a month's time.
And he'd again been set to be scratched until Ryan Poehling was a late scratch due to a lingering injury.
That needs to stop. It really does. It's well past time to see what the kid can do.
• Rakell's goal easily should've been challenged by San Jose for goaltender interference, as the replay shows:
That's hardly definitive, but it sure appears to meet the NHL standard of nullifying a goal.
David Quinn, the Sharks' coach who seems to be impressing about as many fans in the Bay Area as he once did in Manhattan, would say only that he "considered" a challenge.
• That's to say nothing of Quinn having pulled his goaltender, Aaron Dell, for a grand total of 33 seconds before Jake's empty-netter with 38 seconds left. Do the math, and that's way, way, way too late for a one-goal deficit.
• Anyone wondering to what extreme Teddy Blueger's fighting everything on the ice ... nah, I'm not going to show his partial breakaway toward an open net that he somehow clanged off the crossbar. It'd be mean.
One goal in 38 games still.
• Kris Letang took a shot off the left foot/leg late in the third, and it didn't look great as he essentially hopped off the rink during play. He did return for a final shift, though.
• The press box here, for those who don't recall my work from 2016, is ridiculous. It's stuck up in the rafters because the architects here, as in Nashville, simply neglected to include one at the outset.
And when I say up in the rafters, I mean that the bleeping catwalk over the ice surface comes included:
Not recommended.
• Thanks for much for reading my hockey coverage all through this California trip.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at SAP Center:
1. Casey DeSmith, Penguins G
2. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
3. Aaron Dell, Sharks G
THE INJURIES
• Ryan Poehling, left winger, has a lingering upper-body injury that made him a late scratch for this game.
• Tristan Jarry, goaltender, has an upper-body injury and is practicing with the team.
• Jan Rutta, defenseman, has an upper-body injury and is practicing with the team.
• Mark Friedman, defenseman, has an upper-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan's lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen
Drew O'Connor-Teddy Blueger-Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph-Chad Ruhwedel
And for David Quinn's Sharks:
Timo Meier-Tomas Hertl-Noah Gregor
Michael Eyssimont-Logan Couture-Alex Barabanov
Nick Bonino-Nico Sturm-Oskar Lindblom
Jonah Gadjovich-Steven Lorentz-Evgeny Svechnikov
Scott Harrington-Erik Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Matt Benning
Jacob MacDonald-Mario Ferraro
THE SCHEDULE
That's it, kids. The Penguins will fly home for a couple days, including a scheduled practice Thursday, before flying right back out again to face the Islanders in Elmont, N.Y. Taylor Haase will cover that one, while Danny and I fly home ... after enjoying an afternoon in nearby San Francisco, then hitting the red-eye!
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
