Crosby’s craft keeps him at the top of his game

By Mark Madden

http://www.timesonline.com/sports/

October 19, 2017

Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates his game tying goal at 19:04 of the third period against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on October 17, 2017 in New York City. The Penguins defeated the Rangers 5-4 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Edmonton’s Connor McDavid is the NHL’s reigning scoring champion and MVP. Calling him hockey’s best player is more than reasonable.

But it should create debate, thanks to Sidney Crosby of this parish.

Crosby has stockpiled a few accomplishments recently, namely the last three championships he competed for and being named MVP in each of those competitions.

But Crosby’s biggest edge on McDavid is the craft his game has.

McDavid may get there. Smart money says he will. But Crosby is a lot closer to McDavid’s speed and raw power than McDavid is to Crosby’s craft.

Exhibit A: The Penguins trail the New York Rangers 4-3 in the final minute at Madison Square Garden Tuesday. The puck is gloved down by the Penguins’ Patric Hornqvist and bounces near Crosby behind the goal line.

Crosby patiently waits for the Rangers’ Kevin Shattenkirk to touch the puck, negating a hand pass. But Crosby also shields Shattenkirk off the puck, making his touch ineffectual. The puck stays near Crosby.

Crosby collects the disc and flicks a no-look backhand off goalie Henrik Lundqvist and into the net for a game-tying, bank-shot goal.

Crosby made a myriad of decisions in the blink of an eye, and they were all correct. With the clock ticking down, touching up the hand pass to conserve time (but sacrificing a face-off outside the zone) was a viable option, and what many players would have done.

But Crosby saw more.

Crosby took something that started out so innocuous and made it into a moment of genius that led to a 5-4 overtime triumph.

Crosby’s game has craft.

The Penguins are off to a 4-2-1 start. Not terrible, and it beats the bejesus out of Edmonton’s 1-4 mark.

But the Penguins have played the “right way” perhaps twice so far this season: A 4-0 home win over Nashville on Oct. 7 and a 3-2 victory at Washington Oct. 11.

The Penguins’ level of play has been otherwise sporadic. They lead the NHL in times shorthanded (35). Twenty-five Penguins penalties have been stick fouls.

Part of that is because the NHL is cracking down on slashing. Mike Rupp of the NHL Network, an ex-Penguin, calls it “two minutes for tapping.”

But stick fouls often indicate a team isn’t skating hard enough on defense.

The Penguins want to play with speed. They do, when they have the puck. But when they don’t have the puck, that speed isn’t always prevalent. Nor is structure.

That’s evidenced by 29 goals allowed, most in the NHL – a figure admittedly distorted badly by a 10-1 loss at Chicago Oct. 5.

It’s nothing to fret about, let alone rant and rave.

It’s a bit of a Stanley Cup hangover, exacerbated by a brutal schedule that sees the Penguins play games on back-to-back nights for the third time this young season when they visit Florida Friday and Tampa Bay Saturday.

That will happen 16 more times before the campaign ends.

When you see Coach Mike Sullivan speak after a game like Tuesday’s OT win at New York, you can tell he’s biting his tongue. Sullivan sees the shortcomings.

But you can’t be too critical of a team that played 213 games over the previous two seasons on the way to two championships. If any team knows how to play right and when to start doing it, it’s the Penguins.

The roster figures to change greatly between now and the playoffs, an inevitability that also tempers Sullivan’s ire.

GM Jim Rutherford will trade for a third-line center and will likely make another deal or two besides. Prospect wingers Zach Aston-Reese and Daniel Sprong may also figure in.

Greg McKegg can be a third-line center, albeit a below-average one. But McKegg can’t move up the depth chart temporarily if Crosby or Evgeni Malkin gets hurt. Nick Bonino and Matt Cullen could. McKegg can’t.

Hence the need for a better third center, and hence other teams asking a lot in return.

Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).