Crosby lifts Pens in return
Sidney Crosby’s been around long enough to realize the issues currently plaguing the Pittsburgh Penguins can’t be solved in one shift, one period or even one game. That sure didn’t stop the Pittsburgh captain from trying. Crosby scored a spectacular goal and set up two others during a 5-1 victory over Dallas on Wednesday night in his return to the lineup after missing three games with an upperbody injury.
“I think our team gets a foot taller when he’s in our lineup because of the inspiration that he is for our group,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. For a night, it looked like it. The Penguins began the day at the bottom of the Eastern Conference thanks to a 1-7-2 slide, unfamiliar territory for a team less than 18 months removed from back to back championships. The defence has been shaky at best and the goaltending not much better. Sullivan preached patience and on Tuesday stressed the team had no plans to abandon the frenetic style of play that has become its trademark during his hugely successful threeyear tenure.
It’s a style that hardly looks out of place when Crosby’s familiar No. 87 is on the ice.
Desperately needing a spark two days removed from a nightmarish loss to Buffalo in which the Penguins gave away a three-goal lead over the final 30 minutes, Crosby provided one. He set up Jake Guentzel for a goal less than four minutes into the game and provided a highlight-reel marker later in the opening period when he raced down the right side, held off Dallas defenceman Esa Lindell and flicked a rebound past Anton Khudobin to give Pittsburgh a 3-0 advantage just 10:04 into the game.
“I had some room to take it to the net,” Crosby said. “Sometimes they go in. Sometimes you get a save sometimes you draw a penalty. It was good to see it go in.”
Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Penguins. Creating offence, however, is rarely an issue for Pittsburgh. The biggest development against Dallas may have been the play in front of Casey DeSmith. Pittsburgh surrendered three shots in the first period, a season-low 19 in all and didn’t get sloppy after staking him to a massive lead. DeSmith finished with 18 saves, his shutout attempt ending 7:55 into the third period when Mattias Janmark scored.
It was the lone highlight for the Stars. Khudobin, starting in place of injured Ben Bishop, stopped just 11 of 16 shots and was removed when Pearson beat him with a slap shot on a breakaway to make it 5-0. Rookie Landon Bow played well in his NHL debut, stopping all 14 shots he faced.