Sidney Crosby grimaces after being hit in the ankle with the puck in the first period last night.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It could be that this really wasn't Sidney Crosby's most spectacular goal as a pro.
There certainly is no shortage of possibilities, because Crosby has done some remarkable things during his first 149 games in this league.
He has backhanded in rebounds while falling to the ice, deflected pucks past goaltenders while sliding on his side and repealed a law of physics or two when the situation has called for it.
But the goal Crosby scored during a 1-on-4 rush about 4:30 into the Penguins' 6-3 victory against Montreal at Mellon Arena was as good as any of the other 69 he has scored in the NHL, and better than most.
He got the puck from Mark Recchi in the Penguins' defensive zone, rushed it through the neutral zone and then charged directly at a cluster of four Canadiens. Not a high-percentage move for most players, but then Crosby doesn't operate under the same limitations as the majority of mortals.
"I just thought there was a hole there," he said.
Well, even if there wasn't, he created one. And when Crosby made it to the middle of the group and was closing in on defenseman Sheldon Souray, he veered left, then whipped the puck by goalie David Aebischer from near the inner edge of the left circle.
"He was 1-on-4," Aebischer said. "So I didn't think he was going to get a shot off."
Yeah, who would ever expect something like that from Crosby?
While scoring a goal like that would be the personal highlight of a career for most players, for Crosby it isn't much more than a nice way to end a shift.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he walks on water one of these days," said center Erik Christensen, who scored the Penguins second and third goals. "An amazing goal. ... It was ridiculous to watch."
Although Crosby's goal hardly guaranteed the Penguins two points -- there were eight more scored before time ran out -- it clearly provided a boost to his teammates and the standing-room crowd of 17,132.
"It definitely lifts the bench, but if I score a goal like that, everybody's going to be like, 'Oh my god, oh my god,'" center Maxime Talbot said. "But when it's Sid, we have to expect things like that."
The Penguins got all six of their goals, including two each by Crosby and Christensen, at even strength, while Montreal's exceptional power play scored on three of six chances.
"We knew they had a good power play, and we tried to play it well," Talbot said. "But it was not our best game on the kill."
The victory was the Penguins' fourth in a row, raised their record to 40-21-10 and moved them back into fourth place in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of Ottawa.
The Penguins, who have passed the midpoint of a stretch of five games in seven days, will face the Senators tomorrow at 7:38 p.m. at Mellon Arena.
After Crosby and Christensen staked the Penguins to a 2-0 lead in the first period, Montreal got back into the game with power-play goals by Chris Higgins (3:33) and Souray (16:06) during the second.
"Their power play gave them the opportunity to get back into the game," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said.
The Penguins, though, manufactured a pair of goals in a 40-second span early in the third to reclaim the lead for good.
Christensen made it 3-2 at 3:40, as he took a feed from Evgeni Malkin, who was behind the goal line, and stuck a high shot behind Aebischer from near the inner edge of the right circle. At 4:20, Gary Roberts got what proved to be the game-winner by jamming a puck between Aebischer's legs for his 16th.
Montreal countered almost immediately with its third power-play goal, as defenseman Andrei Markov converted a Saku Koivu pass at 5:40, but even though the Canadiens pressed hard for the tying goal and had the Penguins on their heels for several minutes, they could not get another puck past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Finally, Michel Ouellet steered a Malkin pass by Aebischer at 13:47 to expand the Penguins' comfort zone, and Crosby sealed the victory with his first NHL empty-netter at 18:55.
So the outcome mirrored those of the Penguins' midweek games against Buffalo and New Jersey, even if the Penguins' overall performance suffered by comparison.
"We played two games before this [for] a full 60 minutes," Crosby said. "They're a little bit more fun when you play 60 minutes -- you give yourselves a better chance -- but it was nice to finish off well."
(Dave Molinari can be reached at DWMolinari@Yahoo.com.
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