Sidney Crosby continues to prove that the appropriate time to doubt, question or worry about him is ... never.
Crosby entered the Penguins 5-4 overtime win against the Predators Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena riding a 10-game stretch in which he was at a point-per-game pace, albeit with only assists. He hadn't scored a goal in nearly a month, going back to a Nov. 23 loss to Utah.
In this one: A goal and three assists that accounted for all of his team's offense in regulation before Bryan Rust won it.
Crosby is notoriously superstitious, and one of his superstitions is that being asked about a drought will break him out of the drought. There was a funny example last season -- I got Crosby one-on-one after a skate to talk about something completely unrelated to his drought, which at that point had hit 10 games. When I asked to speak with him, he asked, "Are you going to ask me about not scoring?" in a way that made it sound like he wanted to avoid the subject. I get through what I wanted to get through, say, "See, no questions about not scoring!" and Crosby throws his arms up and said he wanted to be asked about not scoring. So I do, and he gives a very basic, canned-sounding answer -- "You just keep working hard for chances, go the blue paint and trust when you get the chances they will go in. That's all it takes, yeah," with a big grin on his face that gave away how well aware he was of the goofiness of the interaction. He didn't score that night, but he broke out of the drought the following game with a goal.
So, when Crosby was asked about the 10-game goal drought after a practice before the Penguins left for Nashville this week, Crosby was extremely pleased with the opportunity.
"Usually when I’m asked about it, is usually when it starts to change," he said with a grin. "So, thank you. What took you so long?"
Unsurprisingly, Crosby was right.
The Penguins were down 3-1 in the second period, and things were starting to look bleak. Jonathan Marchessault gave the Predators an early lead on only their second shot of the game. Bryan Rust scored a tying goal later in the frame, but the tie was short lived, and Luke Evangelista scored a power-play goal for Nashville less than two minutes later. Steven Stamkos made it a 3-1 game in the second period.
The Penguins got a power play, and Crosby did exactly what he said in that interaction I had with him last season: Go to the blue paint, and trust those chances will go in. He tipped in an Erik Karlsson shot to bring the Penguins within a goal:
Rickard Rakell tied the game just over a minute later. Brady Skjei regained the lead for the Predators in the third, but a Karlsson point shot tied the game and ultimately forced overtime, setting the stage for Bryan Rust's overtime-winner.
With his own goal, a primary helper on Rakell's tally and secondary assists on Rust's first goal and Karlsson's tying goal, Crosby finished with his 41st career four-point game, the most among active players and 18th-most in NHL history.
The win, of course, mattered the most to Crosby. But the slump-buster was pretty sweet, too.
"I mean, it feels good," Crosby said. "Hit the post five seconds before that, to see it go in is nice. So hopefully they start going in bunches now. But just to find a way to get some momentum there, we built off that and it was big in getting back into the game."
Mike Sullivan said that Crosby's entire line with Rust and Rakell was "terrific all night. They were on the scoresheet, and he's in the middle of it all."
Sullivan wasn't worried about Crosby during those 10 games. Yeah, he was still showing up on the scoresheet with those 10 assists. But what was telling was that the chances Crosby was getting didn't just fall off. He was averaging three shots on goal per game in that stretch, exactly as he was in the season as a whole, including when he was scoring. They just weren't going in for him.
"I told you guys this for a few games now, I just feel like he was going to bust out," Sullivan said. "When Sid's at his very best, my observation being around him for as long as I have, is that he makes a lot happen in traffic and he gets inside the dots, he gets to the net. He's around the net a lot. He's just powerful and has the skill and the vision to be able to create out of it. That is an indication that he's at his very best. And I think we've seen a lot of that in the last handful of games."
The Penguins began to heat up right at the time Crosby's drought started, going 7-2-1 in their last 10 games before this one. They're a much better team than they were a month ago, and it has them on the cusp of taking over a playoff spot.
With Crosby at his best and adding to all that good the Penguins have been doing, there's really no telling where this team can go.
THE ASYLUM
Crosby's slump-buster sparks comeback win
Sidney Crosby continues to prove that the appropriate time to doubt, question or worry about him is ... never.
Crosby entered the Penguins 5-4 overtime win against the Predators Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena riding a 10-game stretch in which he was at a point-per-game pace, albeit with only assists. He hadn't scored a goal in nearly a month, going back to a Nov. 23 loss to Utah.
In this one: A goal and three assists that accounted for all of his team's offense in regulation before Bryan Rust won it.
Crosby is notoriously superstitious, and one of his superstitions is that being asked about a drought will break him out of the drought. There was a funny example last season -- I got Crosby one-on-one after a skate to talk about something completely unrelated to his drought, which at that point had hit 10 games. When I asked to speak with him, he asked, "Are you going to ask me about not scoring?" in a way that made it sound like he wanted to avoid the subject. I get through what I wanted to get through, say, "See, no questions about not scoring!" and Crosby throws his arms up and said he wanted to be asked about not scoring. So I do, and he gives a very basic, canned-sounding answer -- "You just keep working hard for chances, go the blue paint and trust when you get the chances they will go in. That's all it takes, yeah," with a big grin on his face that gave away how well aware he was of the goofiness of the interaction. He didn't score that night, but he broke out of the drought the following game with a goal.
So, when Crosby was asked about the 10-game goal drought after a practice before the Penguins left for Nashville this week, Crosby was extremely pleased with the opportunity.
"Usually when I’m asked about it, is usually when it starts to change," he said with a grin. "So, thank you. What took you so long?"
Unsurprisingly, Crosby was right.
The Penguins were down 3-1 in the second period, and things were starting to look bleak. Jonathan Marchessault gave the Predators an early lead on only their second shot of the game. Bryan Rust scored a tying goal later in the frame, but the tie was short lived, and Luke Evangelista scored a power-play goal for Nashville less than two minutes later. Steven Stamkos made it a 3-1 game in the second period.
The Penguins got a power play, and Crosby did exactly what he said in that interaction I had with him last season: Go to the blue paint, and trust those chances will go in. He tipped in an Erik Karlsson shot to bring the Penguins within a goal:
Rickard Rakell tied the game just over a minute later. Brady Skjei regained the lead for the Predators in the third, but a Karlsson point shot tied the game and ultimately forced overtime, setting the stage for Bryan Rust's overtime-winner.
With his own goal, a primary helper on Rakell's tally and secondary assists on Rust's first goal and Karlsson's tying goal, Crosby finished with his 41st career four-point game, the most among active players and 18th-most in NHL history.
The win, of course, mattered the most to Crosby. But the slump-buster was pretty sweet, too.
"I mean, it feels good," Crosby said. "Hit the post five seconds before that, to see it go in is nice. So hopefully they start going in bunches now. But just to find a way to get some momentum there, we built off that and it was big in getting back into the game."
Mike Sullivan said that Crosby's entire line with Rust and Rakell was "terrific all night. They were on the scoresheet, and he's in the middle of it all."
Sullivan wasn't worried about Crosby during those 10 games. Yeah, he was still showing up on the scoresheet with those 10 assists. But what was telling was that the chances Crosby was getting didn't just fall off. He was averaging three shots on goal per game in that stretch, exactly as he was in the season as a whole, including when he was scoring. They just weren't going in for him.
"I told you guys this for a few games now, I just feel like he was going to bust out," Sullivan said. "When Sid's at his very best, my observation being around him for as long as I have, is that he makes a lot happen in traffic and he gets inside the dots, he gets to the net. He's around the net a lot. He's just powerful and has the skill and the vision to be able to create out of it. That is an indication that he's at his very best. And I think we've seen a lot of that in the last handful of games."
The Penguins began to heat up right at the time Crosby's drought started, going 7-2-1 in their last 10 games before this one. They're a much better team than they were a month ago, and it has them on the cusp of taking over a playoff spot.
With Crosby at his best and adding to all that good the Penguins have been doing, there's really no telling where this team can go.
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