Time seemed to stand still for a second or two, didn't it?
Maybe it's because, as the bouncing puck had settled onto Sidney Crosby's blade, it might represent an early pivoting point in these struggling Penguins' 2024-25 season.
But maybe because he, too, was at an actual standstill:
CAPTAIN CLUTCH. pic.twitter.com/GfMt2gOipf
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 1, 2024
Strange stuff. Almost akin to one of those infamous Evgeny Kuznetsov penalty shots that'd take the old Washington winger a week and a half to navigate, only to whip a shot by the goaltender after they're close enough to see each other's pupils dilate.
I couldn't help but tease the captain about this afterward:
"Yeah, I had a lot of time," he'd reply. "You don’t usually get that much time, so I just tried not to rush it, tried to read the goalie ... and the puck was rolling a bit, so it’s not too often that you get a chance to really settle it down. So I tried to make the most of it, and I'm glad it went in."
He was hardly alone in that regard, even if he was in scoring: His first goal, 1:47 into the third period, tied the score, and the one above, 2:35 into overtime, accounted for all the offense in the Penguins' 2-1 undoing of the Ducks on this Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena, an outcome that snapped a six-game losing streak.
To boot, this might've been the most thorough effort of October, both for Sid, who'd had one goal through the first 11 games, and the team, which ... well, check out that blue column:
NHL
Sure, the 4-5-1 Ducks are next-to-last in the NHL with 22 goals, and they've also now allowed more shots per game than any team in the NHL -- overtaking the Penguins on this very occasion -- but there's still something to be spoken, I'd say, for how this one was achieved:
• Shots: 46-23
• Shot attempts: 98-51
• High-danger chances: 23-9
Heck, this was so tilted that Erik Karlsson alone put forth a mind-blowing 21 shot attempts, as many as the Ducks in their most productive period, the second.
"We had the puck," Karlsson would tell me. "We had it all night. And nobody wants to play against that. Nobody wants to chase the puck around. It tires you out, physically and even mentally. This is it. This is how we need to play."
Sid expressed something similar when I brought it up: “For the most part, I thought that our mentality was good and the scoreboard showed it.”
Mike Sullivan appreciated it, too, answering my question about if this was what he'd hoped to see thusly: "I thought it was one of our more complete games. I thought we controlled territory, we played more of a north-south straight-ahead game, and we put pucks behind their defensemen when there wasn’t any ice to play on in the entries. We managed the puck better in those critical areas of the rink, for the most part, all night long. So, as a result, we got a significant amount of offensive zone time and scoring chances."
He then added, with an intonation as if to emphasize it, "Listen we’re not compromising our offense by playing a more calculated game. And that’s the conversation that we’re having with the group. We have to shore up our rush coverages, our rush defense and our in-zone defense where there are details that we have to pay more attention to. And everybody’s got to buy in so that we become harder to play against."
And finally, he repeated something he'd mentioned to me Tuesday night after the 5-3 loss to the Wild: "I’m going to say it again: We’re not going to score our way to success. We’re going to defend our way to success. That’s the message we're preaching to the group. So I’m proud of the group for how hard we played. I thought it was up and down the lineup. And it’s a good blueprint to look at moving forward."
OK. And that's that, I guess, until the Canadiens are here Saturday night. It'll take some prodigious progress, I don't have to remind, to sell anyone on any concept that any single night could mark some seismic turnaround for this deeply problematic defensive operation.
In the interim, before further spoiling the fun, let's swing back to Sid. Because he kinda matters, and well beyond how this'll all play out.
He's now got three goals and nine assists through 12 games, so his requisite point-a-game pace is intact. He's also looked a lot livelier since the Penguins returned from the 0-3-1 Western Canada trip. But he's also gone without a point in half his games, without a point or a shot in two of those and, maybe most alarming, he's been on the ice at five-on-five for 64 opposing high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five, more than any player in the NHL.
Now, one explanation for that's academic, seeing as seven of the next 10 players on that list are teammates. On the other hand, though, he's not Mr. Best 200-Foot Player In The Game for nothing, and there's been more than one scene in the Pittsburgh zone that could raise at least a little respectful skepticism about how all-in he's been.
Not in the two games since flying home: With Evgeni Malkin on his left wing for the first time in forever, with an energized Rickard Rakell on the right, he's put up five points, a plus-3 rating, and he's been far more engaged defensively. To the extent that all three were utilized for a handful of extra shifts in this one "because we felt this was the time for that."
Meaning the team's general urgency.
Sullivan also went out of his way, tellingly, to acknowledge the defense when asked about nothing more than Sid's two goals: "I think tonight he played his most complete game on both sides of the puck. When Sid's at his best, he tends to embrace traffic, he plays a north-south game, he hangs onto pucks down in the offensive zone, and he's in the middle of everything all the time. I thought he was there tonight. A lot. And there's nobody better in the league at creating out of that chaos. His tight-area game is ... amazing to me."
A smile came with that.
"You think there's nothing there, there's a mass of humanity, and then he still has the ability to come up with something."
Sullivan wasn't done.
"I also thought he defended hard. Tracking back in the defensive zone. Stopping in the good ice. That's something we've been trying to preach to the group, and I thought he was leading the charge there. I think his defensive game tonight will probably get overshadowed by the fact that he scores a couple goals. He'll always be around the scoresheet because he's so talented, but I just liked his overall 200-foot game. I just thought he was playing the game right way. And when he does, that inspires our group, and he's in the middle of our success."
Now, pardon me for a moment, because I should know better than to presume Sullivan would ever criticize Sid ... but was that ... was he ... ?
Nah, never mind.
And what does/did Sullivan say to Sid, if anything, through this start?
"We try to help him. You know, for a guy who's one of the greatest players of all-time, he wants to be coached. He wants to watch film. He wants help, quite honestly. So we try to pick our spots with him, and we try to watch video clips with him, share our insights, give him an opportunity to watch it with us, and he talks through it with us. He obviously has incredible insights himself. ... He wants to learn. He wants us to challenge him. He wants accountability. And inevitably, he's such a determined player that, when he goes through the ebbs and flows of a season like all players do, he has an uncanny ability for willing himself out of it."
Forgive me, please, for not trimming any of that. It's some of the most intensive insight I've ever heard into Sid on that specific front.
As for "willing himself out of it" ...
Sidney Crosby's redirect tally ties it up for Pittsburgh in the third!#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/nmpaVquUoN
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) November 1, 2024
That's a deft redirect -- off the shaft, no less -- of Matt Grzelcyk's point flick for the tie, as Sid led the coaching staff's directive for more traffic, more tips in front of Anaheim's wonderful young goaltender, Lukas Dostal, who unpacked here with a .943 save percentage and wound up with 43 more saves.
After Alex Nedeljkovic made two pulse-pounding saves late in regulation, it'd be Sid's turn again in overtime.
Leading into his goal was a minute-plus shift for Lars Eller, Cody Glass and Grzelcyk, most of it stuck in the Pittsburgh zone, but watch how Eller put an emphatic end to that:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) November 1, 2024
Dude's just so legit.
And there went the puck up to Glass, who'd linger just long enough to cut off Cutter Gauthier, the Ducks' swift but super-green winger, at the far boards to set the stage for Sid:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) November 1, 2024
And what might've crossed the mind of a fine Winnipeg lad when sharing a surface with the Canadian treasure who once scored a certain other winner-takes-all goal?
"Oh, dream come true," Glass would gush. "Can't wait to hear from my folks tonight. To be out there with him ..."
Yeah, him:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) November 1, 2024
The soft backhand bump of the puck into the air, the way it's bound for a spot only Sid can reach -- not even Dostal, who can't stray from the crease because of the distance -- then getting it to sit somewhat still before seizing upon Dostal staying too far back and ... I don't know, what does anyone say about such skill, speed, smarts ... such spontaneity?
"I'm just glad I got the shot off the way I wanted," as Sid would tell me. "And that we won. That's a nice win for all of us."
Never, ever take him for granted, my friends. Doubly so when it comes to crunch time:
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