POINT SHOTS

Sidney Crosby is equally intrigued by the curves that his NHL peers used. He said the two of the more unique ones belong to Ryan O’Reilly and John LeClair.

LeClair, pictured above, was with the Penguins for Crosby’s first two years. Crosby said he has one of his sticks at his home and often shows people his “pretty wild curve.”

“It was straight then halfway it just completely flipped open. It was like a spatula,” Crosby said. “I love showing guys that would have never seen anything like that before. Honestly, he was so good at tipping pucks and all those little plays around the net, on his backhand. That stick was made for him, for sure.”

I’ll share one more tidbit from my latest chat with Sid. When his older cousin, Forbes, played in Shreveport, La., Crosby would often tune in to his games. The play-by-play man for the Mudbugs? Pittsburgh’s own Steve Mears, pictured.

I was surprised to see Mike Sullivan immediately play Dmitry Kulikov ahead of Pierre-Olivier Joseph. Joseph is hardly perfect but has shown promise. Analytics suggest he is pretty impactful. I’m sure one aspect is they want to know what they have in the new guy. Hopefully, Joseph isn’t just brushed aside.

I might have gone with Bryan Rust or Jason Zucker on the third line Saturday instead of Rickard Rakell. But I like that Sullivan is looking to create more balance up front. Their top-heavy construction could become even more problematic in the playoffs, when there will be an even greater emphasis on matchups.

Alex Nylander got sent down due to the cap restraints created by Ron Hextall. But Hextall’s decision to deal Sam Lafferty for Nylander was a smart bet on talent that might pay off. The trade worked out for Lafferty, too. A win-win.