New York Post
http://www.nypost.com
November 30, 2010
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 29: Sidney Crosby is challenged by Michael Del Zotto of the New York Rangers during their game on November 29, 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)The Garden, charged as were Marc Staal and Dan Girardi last night with the responsibility of stuffing the genie-with-the-12-game point streak back into the bottle, was ready early, booing Sidney Crosby as he delayed the opening face-off for ice cleanup.
"There was confetti, white and all over the zone, and we didn't want anybody skating over it," he said. "Don't know what it was, from a show before or what?"
Either it was a sneak asbestos attack -- cue the EPA again -- designed to protect our town from the hottest player in the NHL or the closest thing Crosby will ever get to a ride up the Canyon of Heroes.
Girardi gave the Pittsburgh star an after-the-whistle shove on the game's fourth shift, before Crosby took down Ryan Callahan during a 60-foot off-the puck race through the neutral zone, and the Ranger got the penalty for interference.
"Definitely a slew foot," said Dubinsky, who then said he didn't want to make a "huge story out of it, because it was not."
It was a little late for that, much like the home team in the second period. For 30 minutes the Rangers and coach John Tortorella, who matched every center he had against No. 87 with exception of Artem Anisimov, were pretty cool in the face of a guy who has 26 points during a 10-2-1 Penguins run that began immediately after the Rangers left Pittsburgh with a 3-2 overtime win.
Surrendering only Max Talbot's quickie off an inadvertent handpass by Ruslan Fedotenko into Staal's feet, the Rangers appeared to have things reasonably locked down until Crosby inevitably turned the key.
The Kid made an are-you-Kidding-me between-the-legs feed past Staal to send Pascal Dupuis into the zone, then took the give-and-go pass and feathered a backhand feed -- past Staal again -- to Kris Letang up the slot.
"Sometimes you think he's going to shoot but he ends up passing it," lamented Staal.
Letang one-timed the feed past Henrik Lundqvist even faster than Crosby can get on your nerves, which is pretty fast indeed. Despite Marc Andre Fleury's attempt -- a short-side goal to Marian Gaborik to put the Rangers back in it, they went down 3-1, their only consolation Crosby's being penalized for a third-period trip of Sean Avery that Dubinsky thought was similar to the one he got away with on Callahan.
"I think Duby has done his fair share of things out there that are questionable," said Crosby, surprisingly offended that Dubinsky had said "that's the kind of player" the best player in the NHL is. "Guess he's talking again. I'm not surprised.
"How many penalty minutes do I have? Please. He's holding me going up ice and I'm trying to push him off. If I tripped him, I tripped him, but I am not a dirty hockey player. I think Duby is smarter than that."
Duby is not smart enough to stop Crosby. Then again, nobody is, as the third youngest player (24 years, 44 days) in NHL history to record 500 points morphs from spectacular to even more routinely so.
"I don't know if he's elevated his game other than the consistency with which he's playing," said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma. "You see the great plays. He's always had the ability to do that."
Now he just does it even more often. The league's best creator is rapidly becoming one of its better goal scorers, and the Gretzkian absurdity of it all is that the reluctant shooter scored 51 goals last season to tie Steven Stamkos for the NHL title.
So who doesn't love to hate a player that good?
jay.greenberg@nypost.com
No comments:
Post a Comment