Streaking Sidney Crosby scores 2 more goals as Penguins beat Canadiens

Matt Vensel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Nov 2, 2024

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — Just one week ago, the Penguins seemed to be in total disarray. Their team defense was among the NHL’s worst. They weren’t getting saves. They blew leads in three of four losses on the Western Canada road trip. And then there was the captain.

Sidney Crosby was stuck in an early-season slump, unable to singlehandedly pull his Penguins out of a tailspin like he has so many times over the past two decades.

He mustered just one point on that road trip with a minus-7 rating in those games.

“I’ll find a way to get back on track,” he said after practice Monday. “I don’t feel like my game is where it needs to be. So it’s up to me to put in the work and find it.”

That didn’t take long, did it?

After Crosby piled up five points in the first two games of this homestand at PPG Paints Arena, he buried two more goals in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. It was the second consecutive victory for Crosby and the Penguins.

Crosby tallied four goals and seven points on the homestand, helping the Penguins regroup after they had lost six in a row. He is now up to 14 points in 13 games.

Mike Sullivan deserves some of the credit for getting Crosby going. He put Crosby and Evgeni Malkin together on the same line for the first time in the coach’s long tenure. The gambit ignited Crosby, who responded with three multi-point games.

Saturday night, Crosby scored a goal in the first period and another in the second to give the Penguins their latest two-goal lead. They actually held onto this one.

The first period was uneventful, with only six total shots through the first 15 1/2 minutes. The action finally picked up late in that period. The Canadiens got their best chance when Alex Nedeljkovic kicked out Juraj Slafkovsky’s point-blank shot. The Penguins went the other way, and Crosby scored to put them up 1-0.

The top line pressured Mike Matheson into a turnover, and Rickard Rakell got it to Crosby high in the zone. He took a quick glance at Malkin, then whipped a perfect shot up into the upper-left corner behind Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault.

Crosby got a power-play goal with 1:20 left in the second period to make it 2-0.

He won a faceoff and seconds later beat Montembeault on a shot through traffic.

He also had two goals, including the overtime winner, Thursday against Anaheim.

The Canadiens made it a game in the third period. Christian Dvorak got them back within a goal with 14:28 left in regulation. Nedeljkovic couldn’t squeeze his initial shot with his glove. Dvorak stuck with it and capitalized on that juicy rebound.

That was all the visitors would get past Nedeljkovic, who finished with 26 saves.

He played well in these back-to-back victories. But he also benefited from better defensive efforts from the Penguins, who locked down their last two opponents.

Blake Lizotte iced it with an empty-netter. It was his first goal for the Penguins.

Ice chips

— Kris Letang skated in his 1,100th NHL game on Saturday, against his hometown team. The 37-year-old ranks 16th among active players in career games played.

— Bryan Rust skated on an individual basis Saturday morning. It was the first time the winger has been on the ice since he suffered a lower-body injury on Oct. 26.

— Sullivan said he has been trying to manage the minutes for Lizotte, who was sidelined by a concussion for a few weeks before making his debut on Thursday.

— Jesse Puljujarvi was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. Sullivan said his play without the puck and attention to detail on defense are two areas where Puljujarvi has to be better to get back in. Ryan Shea was also a healthy scratch.

— Tristan Jarry on Saturday made his third start with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Jarry stopped 30-of-31 shots to improve to 3-0-0 during his conditioning loan. The Penguins will need to make a call on him next week.

Stat n’at

1 – The Penguins have only given up one power-play goal in the last seven games.

Coming up

Penguins players have a scheduled day off on Sunday. They will practice Monday in Cranberry ahead of a three-game road trip that starts Tuesday on Long Island.

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