Crosby’s return sparks Penguins
PITTSBURGH — 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 three-year 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.
“Pretty embarrassing tonight,” Dallas forward Jamie Benn said. “I think we let our goalie down, and we let each other down.”
It tends to happen when Crosby is at the top of his game. He slid a backhand pass across the ice to Guentzel for a one-timer that slipped between Khudobin’s pads to give the Penguins the lead 3:58 into the first period. Malkin’s wrist shot on the power play just over two minutes later doubled Pittsburgh’s advantage, the Russian star flexing as the red goal light came on.
Crosby’s ninth of the season wrapped a frantic three-goal first-period outburst by Pittsburgh against a team that had allowed just 10 goals in the first period all season.
“I don’t think I prepared our team well enough,” Dallas coach Jim Montgomery said. “We weren’t ready to dig in. We weren’t ready to win faceoffs. Ultimately that preparation falls on the head coach.”
It would get no better for Dallas
Capitals hold down Blackhawks
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Andre Burakovsky and Michal Kempny scored to give Washington an early lead, and the Capitals held on to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Wednesday night.
Devante Smith-Pelly also scored for Washington, which won its third straight. The Caps’ previous two victories came in overtime. Braden Holtby stopped 37 shots for the Capitals.
Brandon Saad and Erik Gustafsson scored for Chicago.
Wilson, playing in just his fifth game after sitting out the first 16 because of a suspension, scored his second goal of the season just 54 seconds in after upending Chicago goalie Corey Crawford.
Burakovsky scored his third goal of the season at 6:36, and Kempny, playing against his former team, added his first goal of the season midway in the second period to give Washington a 3-0 lead.
Saad scored in his third straight game at 11:37 of the second period, and Gustafsson scored his second goal of the season at 5:23 of the third period to cut Washington’s lead to 3-2.
Smith-Pelly scored his fourth goal at 7:12 in the third.