The Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/sports
2010/12/08
SUNRISE, FL - NOVEMBER 22: Sidney Crosby carries the puck over the blue line against the Florida Panthers on November 22, 2010 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)PITTSBURGH—He has 24 goals and 24 assists in 29 games. He is on a 16-game points streak. And he has led his team to a 10-game winning streak.
He has done so with Pittsburgh’s second- and third-best forwards — Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin — missing due to injury.
He is Sidney Crosby, and he will cause a headache for the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
“He’s getting points like it’s nothing,” said Leafs defenceman Luke Schenn, who’s sure to get his share of ice time against No. 87. “It’s pretty unbelievable what he’s doing now. Every team goes into a game with a plan on how to stop Crosby. He plays against the top players, the top lines, the top defencemen every night and he still finds a way to do it. He just keeps continuing to produce.”
As far as the Leafs are concerned, Crosby is the best hockey player in the world right now. He’s able to make amazing plays look routine. Take his set-up to Chris Kunitz on Thursday night. He took a long feed from Kris Letang at full speed at the Devils blue line. The puck was behind him, he tapped it up from his skate to his stick — again, at full speed — and directed the puck cross-ice to Kunitz.
“You work on those skills a lot and you never know when you’re going to use them, but when they work, it’s nice,” Crosby said. “Sometimes that practice pays off.”
Crosby often leaves his own coach nearly speechless.
“It’s pretty amazing when you’ve got guys on our bench who look at each other and shake their heads and say: ‘Did you see that?’” said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma. “It was an amazing full-speed play that he made look easy, and if you ever put on skates, you know it’s not.
“He’s making a lot of special plays it seems every night,” Bylsma added. “The unique thing about this now is the consistency with which he’s doing it. We’ve seen him do special things a lot.”
Crosby’s goal-scoring numbers are trending up, with him scoring 24, 33 and 51 in his three previous NHL seasons.
Crosby is on target for about 66 goals and 132 points. Some believe if he keeps closer to the rate of his current points streak — 18 goals and 15 assists in 16 games — he could reach 80 goals and 160 points this season.
“I don’t sit around and thinking about it,” Crosby said of his scoring pace. “When it’s going in, you want to keep it going as long as possible.”
Those numbers are unthinkable in today’s NHL. The last player to reach 80 goals was Mario Lemieux, who hit 85 in 1988-89. The last player to hit 160 points was also Lemieux, who got 161 in the 1995-96 season.
“Sidney Crosby is always trying to get better, no matter what age he’s at,” Bylmsa said. “He seems to be finding a level and a consistency that’s unique to him. He may be coming into his prime.”
Leafs winger Colby Armstrong, one of Crosby’s best friends when the two were teammates in Pittsburgh, could offer little insight on how to contain the superstar.
“He’s always working on things he needs to work on to help his game,” Armstrong said. “He’s going to play hard. Take his speed away through the neutral zone, try to get on top of him.
“He’s the kind of guy who off a simple chip off the boards can turn it into a scoring chance. He’s pretty dangerous all over the ice.”
Leafs centre Tim Brent is certain to draw some defensive checking assignments against Crosby. He gave a nervous chuckle when asked about it.
“He’s the best player in the league and he’s been on fire lately,” Brent said. “You try to take away his time and space. He’s going to make plays and you just try to contain him.”
Sitting in the opposite corner was goalie Jonas Gustavsson. He goes from playing Alex Ovechkin one night — pulling off a stunning and surprising shootout win — to facing Crosby in the next game. It doesn’t get any easier.
“That’s the way it should be,” Gustavsson said “You try to see who’s on the ice, especially a guy like that, the best player in the world right now. You always have to be ready, but when he’s on the ice, anything can happen.”
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