Best news of day: Crosby is just fine, and that bodes well vs. Montreal
The best part of Tuesday for the Penguins was Sidney Crosby’s amazing backhander. But not on the ice in the exhibition game against the Philadelphia Flyers in the bubble in Toronto. On a tennis court in a doubles match with Patric Hornqvist against Kris Letang and Marcus Pettersson earlier in the day.
Who says Crosby has some sort of core injury?
I knew watching the brief clip the Penguins sent out of Crosby, looking very much like Roger Federer, that he was just fine. He proved it against the Flyers, playing nearly 19½ minutes — most among forwards on either team — in a 3-2 overtime loss, the team’s long-awaited first game in exactly 20 weeks. Considering there was at least some doubt that Crosby would play after he missed a significant chunk of training camp 2.0, it was wonderful and uplifting to see. So what if he didn’t do much in the game and didn’t get a point or even a shot on goal? How can you not feel a lot better about the Penguins’ chances in their best-of-five, play-in series against the Montreal Canadiens, starting Saturday night?
“I felt good,” Crosby said. “Physically, I felt good. I felt strong. I think just anticipating and making plays and that kind of stuff, that’s just going to come with time. But for the most part, I felt really good. It was fun to be out there.”
There were plenty of other reasons for optimism.
Both Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry were solid. Murray had no chance on the two goals he allowed. The first by Sean Couturier deflected in off Pettersson. The second by Kevin Hayes came after a horrible pass/giveaway by Evgeni Malkin. Murray deserves the start against the Canadiens in Game 1. Jarry, meanwhile, stopped 10 shots — including one on a breakaway by Hayes in
overtime — before being beaten on a breakaway by Scott Laughton for the gamewinner.
Malkin, mostly invisible in the first two periods except for his hurtful gaffe, was a force in the third. He had three good scoring chances before he won a faceoff late in regulation, went to the net and got off a good shot that was stopped by goaltender Brian Elliott, who couldn’t keep Jason Zucker from lifting the puck into the net for the tying goal. Malkin, the Penguins’ best player during the season and in the recent camp, looks ready.
So does Jake Guentzel, who played in his first game since Dec. 30 because of a serious shoulder injury that required surgery. He didn’t get a shot on goal, but he did set up Conor Sheary with a perfect pass for an early 1-0 lead. It’s always a good thing when a 40-goal scorer gets back in the lineup.
Bryan Rust did everything but score. The last of his seven shots on net easily could have won the game in overtime. Elliott made a huge save on the man who led the Penguins during the season with 27 goals, including a team-high eight on the power play.
The Penguins even appeared to get out of the game without a major injury, which is saying something for a team that had 302 mangames lost during the season. They did have a bad scare, however, when Brian Dumoulin blocked a shot by Jake Voracek and struggled to get up off the ice before struggling to the bench. It almost was shocking that Dumoulin was back for his next shift considering his bad luck this season. He had to miss 37 games after ankle surgery in December.
The only real negative for the Penguins was their power play, which was lame just as it often was during the season. It went 0 for 3 and managed just four shots on goal, none really threatening. It has to better if the Penguins are going to make any kind of postseason run. There is too much talent for it not to be better. It will be interesting to see if Mike Sullivan goes with Kris Letang on the point Saturday night instead of Justin Schultz.
The one certainty is that Crosby will be on the top power play. A healthy Crosby. Clearly, that was the Penguins’ best news of the day.