Chalk up No. 400 for Crosby
early mornings. He sacrificed a lot so I could play hockey. It’s special to have him here.”
The goal was vintage Crosby. Seemingly nothing there, but he sees something and finds a way to sneak it through.
“Typical Crosby goal,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He scores more goals from below the goal line than anybody I’ve ever seen. He’s one of the few guys who thinks the game on such a high level to make the types of plays that he makes from below goal line.
“Some people might think it’s a fluke. It’s not a fluke. I’ve seen it happen so many times. It’s someone who thinks the game on a different level.”
The win helped the Penguins earn three of four points on this two-game road swing through Dallas and St. Louis. They improved to 5-2-1 in their past eight visits to St. Louis and snapped a four-game losing streak in afternoon games.
The Penguins (31-22-4) won for the 12th time in 17 tries since the start of 2018.
The key turning point in this one occurred early in the third period.
It looked like the Blues pulled ahead, 2-1, 31 seconds in on an Alex Pietrangelo goal from the top of the right circle, but officials ruled that Paul Stastny deflected the puck with his stick above the crossbar.
Thirty-four seconds after the goal was disallowed, Bryan Rust picked off a pass and put the Penguins ahead, scoring on a shot from the slot for his fourth goal and seventh point in eight games since returning from injury.
“Getting the goal disallowed was a little bit of a shot of adrenaline for the team,” Rust said. “That first shift and a half, we were on our heels. That turned it around.”
Riley Sheahan gave the Penguins some breathing room at 11:13 of the third period with his second goal in as many games. Dominik Simon somehow got the puck away from Pietrangelo on the forecheck and fed Sheahan in front.
Similar to his goal Friday, Sheahan made a couple of sneaky-good moves to get the goaltender out of position.
Matt Murray had a strong game, stopping 33 of 34 shots to improve to 5-0-1 in his past six decisions. The biggest stop for Murray might’ve come in the third period, shortly after Rust’s goal, when he made a glove stop on Vladimir Tarasenko from the right circle.
After a first period where neither team really asserted itself, Kyle Brodziak put the Blues ahead, 1-0, with a fourth-line goal at 3:10.
Brodziak and former Penguin Chris Thorburn enjoyed a two-on-one break. Brian Dumoulin dived and broke up the first attempt, but Thorburn got the puck back to the front of the net and Brodziak knocked it past Murray.
The odd-man break occurred, in part anyway, because of Kris Letang’s pinch that turned out to backfire on the Penguins defenseman. The Blues’ lead didn’t last long, however, as Crosby pulled the Penguins even 21 seconds later.
The goal itself wasn’t followed by much fanfare. Pretty much a normal celebration. But for Crosby, the hope is that the goal-scoring dam might have broken.
“We’re thrilled for him,” Sullivan said. “It’s such a great accomplishment to score 400 goals in this league. In Sid’s case, to score 400 goals as quickly as he has, is another level of accomplishment. It’s an indication of how good of a player he is.
“I know he’s been pressing for this one for a while. We’re hoping now that he scored that goal that it’ll start going in the net for him. He’s had a number of quality chances the last handful of games. It hasn’t gone in for him. We’re hoping it’s going to start going in for him.”