Crosby draws Pens even with OT winner
Pittsburgh superstar comes through early in extra session
PITTSBURGH It was just a matter of time, wasn’t it?
In a moment that called for a hero, who else but Sidney Crosby would answer the bell?
In the past few days, he was criticized and chastised for not having scored in eight games. An entire city put pressure on Sid The Kid’s shoulders.
Not as much as Sid The Kid put on himself, however.
And then, Monday night, Crosby realistically kept the Penguins’ Stanley Cup hopes alive with one flick of his famed wrists, all the while muzzling the naysayers out there.
Just 40 seconds into overtime, Crosby snapped a shot past Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Lightning, evening this best-of-seven series at 1-1 heading into Game 3 Wednesday in Tampa.
“When we entered the third period tied 2-2, we thought we had a chance,” Crosby said.
One Sid The Kid would take advantage of.
In the end, it was time for Crosby to step up. After all, his supporting cast has been outstanding throughout the playoffs. And Monday was no exception.
Indeed, conduct an autopsy of the Penguins’ bottom two forward lines — the ones that don’t include Crosby and Evgeni Malkin — and you’ll find a road map of six meandering hockey journeys that have somehow found their individual ways to the confluence of the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers to mesh.
Exactly one year ago, these six players were all in different venues in different cities at different points in their careers, Now, 12 months later, they have come together for the same common goal — to help the Penguins win the Stanley Cup.
Exhibit A: Phil Kessel-Nick Bonino-Carl Hagelin.
Last May, Kessel was in Toronto occupying the role as scapegoat for a bitter Maple Leaf fan base looking for someone to blame for yet another dismal season. Bonino was in Vancouver, coming off a 15goal season with the Canucks. And Hagelin was in New York about to become a salary cap casualty of the Rangers, who would eventually traded him to Anaheim.
Exhibit B: Matt Cullen-Eric Fehr-Tom Kühnhackl.
In the spring of 2015, Cullen, then 38, was wondering if his durable NHL career had finally reached its end after completing a seven-goal season with the Nashville Predators. Fehr, meanwhile, had just finished his ninth campaign in Washington Capitals red, while Kühnhackl was sharpening his skills with the Wilkes-Barre Penguins, Pittsburgh’s farm team.
The man who plucked these players from all over North America and brought them together in Sid’s World was Penguins GM Jim Rutherford, whose complete makeover of Pittsburgh’s bottom six has helped them get to the 2016 Eastern Conference final against the spunky and speedy Tampa Bay Lightning.
In the aftermath of a disappointing first round elimination at the hands of the New York Rangers last spring, Rutherford vowed to improve the skill set surrounding the likes of Crosby, Malkin, gritty Patric Hornqvist and the aging Chris Kunitz. Hence, a series of tinkering involving trades, call-ups and free agent signings gave Pittsburgh’s forward ranks a complete facelift.
From the Penguins management box at the Consol Energy Center Monday night, Rutherford looked down and could see his handiwork firsthand. And, at least for the first 9:37 of play, he must have been pleased.
Just 4:32 after the opening faceoff, Cullen and Fehr broke into the Lightning zone on a two-onone. Young Tampa Bay goalie Vasilevskiy, subbing for the injured Ben Bishop, made a great stop on Fehr’s one-timer, but was helpless seconds later as Cullen scooped a loose puck high into the net to put the Penguins up 1-0. Goal: Fourth line. About five minutes later, it was Kessel’s turn, ripping one of his patented snap shots into the back of the net to put the hosts up 2-0. It was Kessel’s 14th point of the postseason, the result of some fine work by a trio that has been Pittsburgh’s best through two-plus rounds. Goal: Third line. But, as usual, the Lightning was unfazed. Subsequent goals by Anton Stralman and Jonathan Drouin knotted the game 2-2 before the first period had ended.
For the rest of regulation, it was a battle of 21-year-old goalies as Vasilevskiy and the Penguins’ Matt Murray put on a show. Until Crosby’s heroics, that is. While Stralman returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering a non-displaced fracture of his left leg on March 25, Ryan Callahan did not play in Game 2 Monday night because of a reported bout with the flu.
Earlier on Monday, Lightning star Steven Stamkos, dealing with a blood clot issue, told reporters that he was not ruling out a return to action in Game 3 or 4 but, as always, uncertainty reigned supreme with the condition being battled by the Tampa Bay captain.
Of course, on this night, it was the captain of the Penguins who was the difference maker.