DETROIT -- If anyone's going to drag the Penguins into the postseason, it was always going to be Sidney Crosby.
They aren't there yet and still have a tough challenge ahead, but the captain's doing all he can to get them there for the 17th consecutive season. He was the driving force in the 5-1 win over the Red Wings here at Little Caesars Arena Saturday afternoon, scoring twice and adding a primary assist.
Fitting as ever, it was Crosby making history in the process, as he became the 15th player to reach 1,500 career points. Of those 15 players, he's the sixth-fastest to do so, requiring only 1,188 games:
PENGUINS
"It's a nice number," Crosby said of the accomplishment after the game. "Obviously, the most important thing is the next game and our situation here with the urgency and desperation. That's what I'm thinking about more than numbers, but it's a nice number and a lot of guys are a big part of that -- a couple of them a long time."
That's a very on-brand answer. He then doubled-down on the team-first mindset, showing exactly why he's one of the best leaders the NHL has ever seen.
"I think that's just hockey," he said. "I think you understand pretty quickly that we don't sign up for tennis or golf. It's a team sport, and that's what we like about it, and that's why I love the game. I think that's a mentality you learn pretty early on when you start playing and try not to forget that."
Saturday's game wasn't a must-win game mathematically, but it surely felt like a must-win for the Penguins.
They appeared a smidge timid in the opening minutes, perhaps hoping not to succumb to a glaring error and fall behind the eight-ball so early, but they managed to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the first thanks to Alex Nylander's first goal with the team. Taylor Haase has more on his goal and return to the lineup here.
From that point forward, it was the Crosby show.
With just seconds remaining in the first, Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman made the grave mistake of trying an unnecessarily fancy move in front of Detroit's net to push the puck up ice, but Jake Guentzel pounced to force a turnover.
Crosby, who had been trailing Walman, was there to snag the loose puck before ripping a nasty backhander by Ville Husso for a 2-0 lead with a tick and a half on the scoreboard:
If it's even possible, that backhander was just as filthy as the one he scored against the Avalanche in Denver several weeks back, albeit this was from a much shorter distance.
A little over 11 minutes into the second period, Crosby was the benefactor of a fortuitous bounce after racing his way up the weak side of the ice. Danton Heinen skated the puck up the left wing, but ran out of real estate and flung an area pass in Crosby's vicinity. The puck landed right on his blade after Simon Edvinsson took a swing and a miss at it, and he fired another backhander on target that produced a rebound.
Crosby's momentum carried him right to the net before taking another whack at the puck from in tight. While everyone on the Red Wings had shifted their attention to Crosby, Heinen slipped his way through to the net and batted the rebound out of midair for a 3-0 lead:
"I felt pretty good," Crosby responded when I asked if he felt especially locked in. "I thought we were on our toes. I think our line was good. We were forechecking, reading off each other well. Some nights, it feels like you're really connected and you get some bounces. Tonight felt like that."
He then capped his strong night with an absolute laser of a power-play goal three minutes into the third, effectively closing out the Red Wings.
Quite the way to cap the snapping of a seven-game goal drought:
"He's not only one of the greatest players of his generation, he's one of the greatest players of all-time," Mike Sullivan said, "and he continues to do it."
Crosby is the only active player to hit 1,500 points, and he's just the seventh in league history to reach that mark with the same team.
"I don't think about that a whole lot," Crosby said of reaching certain statistical rarities. "There's different points where you get milestones and certain ones maybe hit you, or you reflect a little bit more, but I think given our situation -- When I look back to those scenarios, it's a compliment, I'm happy to be a part of that, but I've always had the mentality to try to be my best, wherever that puts me as far as numbers or whatever the case is. I try to be my best so that I can contribute to winning games. That's what I care about."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• The Penguins jumped back into the Eastern Conference's first wild-card spot, putting them a point ahead of the Islanders and Panthers, but both teams won their respective matchups Saturday evening, knocking the Penguins back out of the playoff picture. All three teams have two games left. The Penguins will need to finish with more standings points than at least one of them to qualify for the postseason because they will not have the tiebreaker.
• Evgeni Malkin snapped out of his own six-game goal drought with this hard drive in the third period to put the game well out of reach:
He's up to 26 goals and has secured another point-per-game season, the 15th of his career.
• Tristan Jarry allowed a total of nine goals in consecutive games against the Bruins and Devils recently, but he has followed it up with two very strong starts. He stopped 27 of 28 shots Thursday against the Wild, then stopped 19 of 20 here.
"No, I just keep going," he responded when I asked if he feels like he's finding a groove at the most important time. "It's just another game. Next game is gonna be just another one. I just gotta keep going."
• Drew O'Connor missed the game due to a suspected upper-body injury. It's presumably a result of the high hit he took from the Wild's Matt Dumba Thursday. He did, however, make the trip to Detroit with the team.
• This might've been Rickard Rakell's quietest game all season. He appeared to be heavily uninvolved in the play and did not attempt a single shot. He's a positive influence no matter what line he's on, but it is glaring that these games happen for him with more regularity when playing on the Malkin line than when he plays on the Crosby line. No, that's not some dig at Malkin or Jason Zucker. It's that Rakell has considerably more chemistry with Crosby and that Malkin's line has performed considerably better when Bryan Rust is on the right wing. That's it.
• The second line did find the back of the net at 5-on-5 thanks to Malkin's tally, but they didn't have the greatest game, as a whole. The Penguins' first, third and fourth line each allowed just one scoring chance against. The second line allowed five scoring chances against.
• Credit where it's due: Jeff Carter had a pretty solid afternoon. He had an assist on Nylander's goal and attempted three shots (two on goal), but most telling, the Penguins controlled 77.4% of the expected goals with him on the ice at 5-on-5.
• This was my first time visiting Little Caesars Arena. I was absolutely blown away. The exterior of the building has a bit of an old-school feel, but the inside is the perfect blend of fresh and modern without the overbearing techy, futuristic vibe a lot of newer venues have. Plenty of good food on the concourses, compelling in-game entertainment. I heavily recommend making it to a game there at some point, if you ever have the chance. I'm already looking forward to my next trip here.
• Thanks for reading!
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Little Caesars Arena:
1. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
2. Danton Heinen, Penguins LW
3. Alex Nylander, Penguins RW
THE INJURIES
• Defenseman Marcus Pettersson is on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He is skating with the team, but cannot be activated until April 13, the last day of the regular season.
• Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury, as well. He is skating with the team and can be activated at any time.
• Forward Nick Bonino is on long-term injured reserve with a lacerated kidney. He, too, is skating with the team and can be activated at any time.
• Forward Drew O'Connor missed Saturday's game due to a suspected upper-body injury. It's presumably a result of the high hit he took from Matt Dumba against the Wild on Thursday in Pittsburgh.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Mikael Granlund - Ryan Pohling - Alex Nylander
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
P.O Joseph - Jeff Petry
Mark Friedman - Jan Rutta
And for Derek Lalonde's Red Wings:
Dominik Kubalik - Dylan Larkin - David Perron
Pius Suter - Andrew Copp - Lucas Raymond
Adam Erne - Joe Veleno - Alex Chiasson
Jonatan Berggren - Austin Czarnik - Matt Luff
Jake Walman - Moritz Seider
Simon Edvinsson - Ben Chiarot
Olli Maatta - Robert Hagg
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins have the day off Sunday. They'll be back on the ice Monday for practice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. Their next game is Tuesday against the Blackhawks at PPG Paints Arena.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
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