After a 321-day recovery period from a concussion (or two), it took Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby just 20 seconds to create a scoring chance and five minutes and 24 seconds to score a goal in his return to game action. For the average NHL player, an adjustment period of five to ten games could have been expected after sitting out nearly ten-and-a-half months. For Sidney Crosby, it was five minutes.
After taking the ice to an absolute eruption from the crowd, the 24-year-old center won the game’s opening faceoff against the New York Islanders with familiar linemantes Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis on his wings. From the outset, it was obvious Sid’s level of play hadn’t diminished from where he was (32 goals, 66 points in 41 games) when he suffered the injury in January. He was clearly the best player on the ice, and that lasted all game.
About five minutes into the game came Crosby’s second shift. Sid beat two Islanders from his own zone to center ice where he received a pass from Dupuis. In the most fitting moment in Consol Energy Center history, Crosby carried the puck into the Islanders’ zone one-on-two plus a backchecker, beat defenseman Andrew MacDonald with a burst of speed and a power move to the outside, then roofed a backhand shot over goalie Anders Nilsson‘s glove.
Watch and learn:
Ten minutes later, after a great diving effort by Dupuis to keep the puck in the zone, Crosby found an open Brooks Orpik with a nifty backhand pass to the point, which Orpik blasted home for Pittsburgh’s second goal and Crosby’s second point. In the first period.
Note: I predicted a goal and assist for Sid in his return (though I’ve just realized I never actually published today’s preview article. Great!) He had that after one period.
Crosby notched his third point on Evgeni Malkin‘s second period power play goal. Crosby had a one-time attempt blocked by two Islanders but got the puck back, then backhand dished it to Kris Letang at the point, who slap-passed to Malkin down low, before Malkin deposited the puck in the back of the net with some nice stickwork.
At that point, Crosby had recorded three points in less than nine minutes on the ice.
Goal number two and point number four for Crosby came just two minutes into the third period. Crosby got the puck behind the Islanders’ net and won a physical battle with Milan Jurcina before losing the 6’4″ 250+ lb defenseman in a show of agility reminiscent of Crosby’s assist against Jason Spezza in the 2009-10 playoffs. Sid backhanded (notice a theme here?) a shot toward the net and was credited with his second goal when the puck trickled through Nilsson’s pads.
Malkin fed an absolutely beautiful pass to Steve Sullivan in the second period for his 10th assist and second point of the game, and Marc-Andre Fleury pitched a 29-save shutout, but this was Crosby’s night. Sid earned the game’s first star and, amazingly enough, ESPN’s King of the Night honors.
In the end, Crosby recorded two goals, two assists, a +3 rating and 8 shots on goal in just 15:54 of ice time. After a ten-and-a-half month layoff, that’s unbelievable. Then again, this is Sidney Crosby we’re talking about, so maybe it’s not unbelievable.
Perhaps more important than Crosby’s final stat line, though, was the fact that he took a few hard hits on the night but responded well and showed no signs of slowing down or being shaken up.
Crosby now has five less goals and 11 less points than Alexander Ovechkin. Sid leads the NHL in points per game, and I don’t expect that to change for the rest of the season.
While expecting Crosby to stay at a four point per game clip is unreasonable (yes, even for Crosby), I fully expect Sid to end up somewhere between 1.5-1.75 points per game. There is a legitimate possibility that Crosby records 100+ points this season if he remains healthy.
One-point-five points per game over the team’s remaining 61 games would give Crosby 95-96 points. One-point-seven-five would give him 110 points, and likely the Art Ross trophy as the NHL’s top scorer. In a season where all other players received a 20-game head start, that’s pretty solid.
Those numbers may seem like a stretch to some non-Penguins fans, but Sidney Crosby is absolutely at that level (already), and will only get better as the season wears on.
The Penguins snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 12-6-3 on the season and 7-1-1 at home.
Crosby’s return takes the Penguins from legitimate Stanley Cup contenders to Stanley Cup favorites. It’s a great day when Barry Melrose calls your team “unbeatable” on ESPN, and when Matthew Barnaby publicly changes his preseason Stanley Cup prediction to your team before Thanksgiving.
Pens Nation, he’s back. We are truly blessed.
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