Crosby pleased to be productive

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By Karen Price
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, December 23, 2006

Sidney Crosby isn't expecting to equal Wayne Gretzky's record of 51 consecutive games with at least one point, nor does he expect to even come close.

But his 10-game scoring streak going into the Penguins' four-day holiday break, tying his career high and the current longest streak in the NHL, means that Crosby is contributing on a nightly basis.

And that is what he is expects from himself.

"You just want to be productive and if (the scoring streak is) part of it, that's fine, but it's not something that you pay a whole lot of attention to," said Crosby, who had a goal and an assist in a shootout loss to the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night to bring his current streak to seven goals and 16 assists for 23 points in 10 games.

The longest scoring streak in the NHL this season thus far is 11 games, and three players have done that -- the Tampa Bay Lightning's Martin St. Louis, the Lightning's Vincent Lecavalier and the New York Rangers' Martin Straka. Even in 11 games, none totaled more points than Crosby has thus far.

St. Louis had 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points, Straka had seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points, and Lecavalier had eight goals and 10 assist for 18 points.

But if Crosby's impressed by his own numbers in the last 10 games, he isn't showing it.

"With a six-point game (one goal, five assists against the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 13) and a four-point game (one goal, three assists against the New York Islanders in the next game), you can't read into the numbers too much," said Crosby, 19. "You have two big games like that, it's a little bit different, but you want to be consistent."

But if Crosby isn't willing to toot his own horn, his teammates have no problem doing it for him.

"I think a point a game, for a lot of players, is difficult," linemate Ryan Malone said. "There are a lot of other games where he plays great games and doesn't get a point. He sets up a lot of guys and for whatever reason we're not putting the puck in the back of the net. But he's still creating chances. That's the type of player he is. He makes everyone around him better, and hopefully he stays hot right now."

With Crosby's six-point game against the Flyers, he took control of the overall scoring lead in the NHL. He continues to lead the league in scoring heading into Friday's games, with 17 goals and 38 assists for 55 points in 31 games and leading the New York Rangers' Jaromir Jagr by four points.

The last five times an NHL player totaled at least 15 goals and 30 assists by their team's 30th game of the season were all with the Penguins (Mario Lemieux, Jagr and Ron Francis in 1995-96 and Lemieux again in 2002-03), and Crosby is the first teenager to lead the league in scoring in the modern era since Gretzky in 1980-81.

"It's unbelievable," defenseman Ryan Whitney said of Crosby's streak. "He's kind of turned into a superstar I think from the beginning of the year until now. Every game I think we defensemen catch ourselves on the bench saying, 'Did you see that? Wow.' It's pretty exciting to get to play with someone like that."

Karen Price can be reached at kprice@tribweb.com.