Last Updated:4:49 AM, May 1, 2013
Posted:2:05 AM, May 1, 2013
PITTSBURGH — To play Sid or to not play Sid, that is the question.
Penguins star Sidney Crosby will be a game-time decision for the Penguins tonight when they open their first-round playoff series against the Islanders, still reeling from the broken jaw that kept him out of the final month of the season. The favorite to win this season’s Hart Trophy as league MVP, Crosby met with doctors yesterday and it was unclear as of last night if he was cleared to play.
Coach Dan Bylsma will speak about Crosby’s status at today’s morning skate, the team said.
Whether it’s tonight or later in the series, whenever Crosby plays, the focus will fall on the Islanders’ top-pair defenseman Travis Hamonic to attempt to shut him down.
“It seems like this is when the true Travis Hamonic player comes out, is in games like this,” Hamonic said after yesterday’s practice at the Coliseum, hesitating at the third-person but the sentiment remaining genuine. “I love the challenge. So if Crosby’s playing, I’m going to be ready to go against him. Obviously, he’s a good player and I think I’m going to try and play him hard, be physical ... not try and change my game even a little bit.”
Along with back line partner Andrew MacDonald, the two have become a solid shutdown pair — Hamonic a physical player with MacDonald the cerebral player. Hamonic cited the Islanders’ epic game against the Rangers at the Coliseum on April 13 — a 60-minute testament to the wonders of scoreless hockey that ended with Dan Girardi scoring the game-winner for the Rangers in overtime — as a recent example of playing top-tier talent.
Yet during that game, Hamonic had his hands full with the Blueshirts’ superlative forward Rick Nash, pushing and shoving with him throughout the contest — and holding him off the score sheet.
“I was in Nash’s face every chance I had,” Hamonic said.
However, it was the Penguins who ran away with the Eastern Conference — while Nash and the Rangers finished sixth — because they are deeper than just Crosby. With talents such as Evgeni Malkin (a Hart Trophy winner himself), James Neal and Chris Kunitz, the problem for Hamonic and the Islanders’ defense goes deeper than the surface.
“I know it’s the Pittsburgh Penguins, but for us, we can’t change who we are, and doing the things that have made us successful,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “So we’re just going to go about our business.”
Against the Penguins this season, the Islanders won just one game out of five, outscored by a total of 17-9. Crosby broke his jaw in the second-to-last contest on March 22.
“I think it’s a team we’ve played hard all season, and I think we still have a lot more to give physically against them,” Hamonic said. “They have a lot of skill over there. We’ll see what the matchup is.”
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