Sidney Sticks up for his Street Crew

CBC Sports reports that Sidney Crosby is joining the battle to save street hockey in Halifax. This isn't the first time that a lame city council has decided to ban or try to ban street hockey. Why, it's better that they sit inside and play XBox all day and fatten up, rather than play Canada's #1 game and stay trim and healthy.

A proposed bylaw that threatens the survival of street hockey in Halifax doesn't sit well with NHL star Sidney Crosby.

Crosby, who grew up in Cole Harbour, N.S., has sent an e-mail to Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly asking him to rethink a vaguely-worded law that could possibly be used to ban street game.

NHL star Sidney Crosby doesn't want street hockey banned in Halifax. (CP Photo)
In his note, Crosby explained how much he enjoyed playing street hockey as a child.

"(Street hockey) was just something he enjoyed doing as a youngster," said Crosby's mother, Trina, in an interview with Canadian Press.

Halifax's proposed bylaw is an effort by the city to stop any behaviour that could impede traffic or threaten the safety of children.

Let's hope Sidney's 'Street Cred' will help kids be able to continue to play street hockey in Halifax.

Crosby 1 - Ranger$ 7: Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!

Ok, that was ugly.

Well, not Sidney Crosby's PP goal. That was nice!! Crosberry took a nice cross-crease feed and tied the game at 1.

Then the Rangers played like they'd get executed if they didn't score 7 goals, and Marc-Andre Fleury juggled the puck like he was trying out for Cirque Soleil. Hell, even JASON STRUDWICK scored!!!

New York finished with a 51-14 shots advantage.

"If we compete, that's not going to happen," said Penguins rookie Sidney Crosby, who scored his 25th goal. "That's not a big concern for us. If we compete and we're playing better offensively then they don't have the puck and they're not getting chances to score. "

"It seemed like when we had opportunities to get it, we'd lose easily. And when they had it we didn't battle enough."

Sidney finished with 1 goal, -1, 3 shots on goal, and 9 for 15 on faceoffs. Once again, Crosby was alright and the rest of his team sucked Grape Nuts.

Full game recap here.

Penguins 3 - Islanders 4: Satan's Shootout

Well, it certainly didn't take long for the Penguins to get back to their losing ways. At least this time, they got a bonus point for making it into OT.

The New York Islanders upended the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3, Thursday night in a shootout.

New York’s Miroslav Satan scored the lone goal of the shootout. Islanders goalie Wade Dublielewicz denied Michel Ouellet, Sidney Crosby and Ryan Malone. Penguins goalie Sebastien Caron turned away Trent Hunter.

A shootout decided the last outcome between to the two teams. The Islanders won, 3-2, on Nov. 14 in Pittsburgh.

Crosby, once again, played well in the loss. In 24:33 of ice time, Crosby had 1 assist and finished +1 while winning 13 of 23 faceoffs.

Penguins 8 - Crapitals 1: Sidney pwns Ovechkin

Finally!

After losing 10 straight games
After losing Zigmund Palffy to retirement
After losing Mario Lemieux to retirement, and
After losing ground to Alexander Ovechkin in the Calder race, Sidney Crosby said "Enough is Enough" (Well, not really, but I must post one cliche a day) and the Penguins smacked around the Washington Capitals like a cheating husband on The Jerry Springer Show.

Once again, it was a battle of the two wunderkinds, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. Unfortunately, both kids aren't making this any fun and refuse to turn it into a personal battle:

Crosby: “I don’t think it’s any more gratifying winning this one [since it was against Ovechkin],” Crosby said. “I think the only thing gratifying is just getting a win after the tough times we’ve been through and the way we did it. Scoring goals is nice and it’s well deserved. We’ve all worked really hard and only allowed one goal, too, which is nice. Everyone chipped in and it was nice to see that.”

Ovechkin: “It’s another game. Of course I think about this game, but I don’t think what I must do to win the battle between me and Crosby. I think about what I must do to help this team,” Ovechkin said. “He is a good player. If I have a chance to watch his games, I watch. He’s fun to watch. He’s a great player.”

Booooring!! Throw us a frickin' bone, here!!

Well, Sidney finished with 1 goal, 3 assists, +2, 7 shots on goal, and 8 for 17 on the draw in 18:13 of ice time. Oh, and the Penguins finally won after losing 10 straight. Phew!

Full game recap here.

Mario Lemieux Retires. What's next for Crosby?

So, this is the end for Mario Lemieux, who retired due to heart problems.

It certainly is an anti-climatic ending to a great career, but almost fitting given the
numerous injuries and ailments he’s overcome over his adult life.

I know a faulty heart isn’t anything to mess with, but I am surprised that Lemieux did not come back for one more farewell game. With him giving up his executive position with the Penguins, he seems to be divesting himself from the club awfully quick.

In the meantime, the focus, as is has been most of the year, will shift even more to the rookies and young stars in the NHL. Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Dion Phaneuf, and many others are already stars in their own right and have given us many memorable highlight reel plays.

From PittsburghPenguins.com:

“I realize that the new NHL is really for the young guys. I think we have a lot of young guys in the league who are dominating,” Lemieux said. “We have a few in Pittsburgh, too. These young guys are the future of the NHL and look forward to next several years watching these guys play.”

Now, where does this leave Sidney Crosby? I heard some rumours that he would be given the Captain’s “C”, which would be an awful idea and not likely to happen. Crosby has been living with Mario this year, but now has to be ‘the man’ now that both Zigmund Palffy and Lemieux are retired. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, it may be very likely that nobody gets the “C” this season.

"Being young coming in here, obviously he was in a similar situation coming in, he’s faces a lot of adversity and been able to rise through it. I think that just being around him and learning through his experiences have helped me,” said Crosby, who lives with the Lemieux family. “It’s tough to see him leave. He had such a great impact on the game. He really has a passion for the game. It’s never easy to go and I am 18 years old, but that’s something I can still feel for that and realize that you play hockey for so long and then, all of a sudden, one day you have to stop. It’s something that can’t be easy at all."

“It’s really tough. You never like to see anyone have to step away from a game they love,” he continued. “I am glad I got a chance to know him so well. He really is a great person and has a real passion for the game. He’s put so much into it. At least he’s going away on his own terms.”

In addition, Crosby, already an alternate captain, seems a natural fit to assume Lemieux’s role as the Penguins’ leader on and off the ice.

“I don’t think I will ever be able to do the job that he did, but if I can even come close to that, I think it will be all right,” Crosby said. “He was an amazing player and an amazing person. When I came in here, it’s tough to know what to expect living with someone I grew up watching and idolizing, but he’s helped me so much. Hopefully, I will continue on from now.”

On that note, it is also time for be to take a break of sorts. I am feeling a bit of blogger’s burnout as you can tell in the recent days. Posting will be light for me for about a week or two, until I get my mojo back or something stirs within me. In the meantime, I’ll have a few update posts and I invite you to visit some of the other excellent blog sites located on the right.

Penguins 2 - Flyers 4: Double Trouble

The Penguins lost to the Flyers...AGAIN!
The Penguins got doubled up...AGAIN!

10 straight losses now for the Penguins, which is even worse than the 0-4-5 streak they started the season with. None of the last 10 losses have gone to OT!

This time? Blame the triumphant return of evil Peter Forsberg.

With the Flyers seemingly headed toward their 17th overtime game, Forsberg won a faceoff in the offensive zone, and Derian Hatcher took a wrist shot. Knuble redirected the puck with his stick blade from the slot past Marc-Andre Fleury for his 22nd goal and another dramatic Philadelphia victory.

"The only thing I did all day was win a faceoff at the end,'' said Forsberg, who missed two games because of an abdominal muscle strain. "We shouldn't keep it that close after going up 2-0.''

Blah, humbug!!

Sir Sidney finished with 1 assist and went -1 in 20:32 of ice time. He regressed in face-offs, but did finish 10 for 21. Not bad at all.

"It's always tough to lose when you're that close,'' said center Sidney Crosby, who had his 31st assist. "We played two pretty good hockey games. But hanging our heads and getting frustrated over it is not going to help us in the next game or the long run.''

What else can the Penguins do? It really can't get much worse, can it?

Full game recap here.

Penguins 1 - Flyers 2: What else is new?

Ho-hum, another day, another loss for the Penguins.

Sir Sidney and the Penguins actually played well in the 2-1 loss. In 22:16 of ice time, Sidney finished with +1, 6 shots on goal, and 13 for 20 on face-offs (wow, has he suddenly become good at those). He didn't put up any points, mainly because Robert Esche decided to play his best game in 4 seasons.

Robert Esche put a groin strain behind him in a hurry Saturday.

Playing his first game in more than a month, the U.S. Olympic goalie made 32 saves to help the Philadelphia Flyers snap a four-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"My style is I'm not a guy who needs a whole lot of games," Esche said. "When I was a backup, I played one game a month or two games a month. You have to be ready. That's kind of how I always approached it. I learned to adjust to that."

Esche (12-4-2) made several challenging saves, stopping Sidney Crosby in the slot with the man-advantage toward the end of the first period and Sergei Gonchar on a wrist shot from his left with 4 minutes to play in the second.

Poor Penguins. Even when they play well, they can't win!

Full recap here.

Rangers 4 - Penguins 2: Jerked Around

Sidney Crosby had an inspired effort, but the Penguins, once again, came up short in a 4-2 loss to the new-look Rangers.

Crosby, who finished with 1 goal and 1 assist, was also at the center of a bit of controversy in the 3rd period.

The Penguins appeared to take the lead when Surovy roofed a shot past Lundqvist for a power-play goal. However, the goal was waved off as Crosby was knocked into the goal before the puck went in the cage. He was given a goalie interference penalty as well.

“It was a blur. I was in the net, so I didn’t really obstruct the goalie moving on the goal,” Crosby said. “We’re on the power play, I am not going to try to run the goalie. Their [defenseman] pushed me in and I tried to stop. If you look at it, I tried to stop and my foot clicked his and I went into the goal. I think even when it’s accidental you can still get goaltender interference because you’re in there. On that one, I definitely didn’t expect that.”

Therrien disagreed with the penalty call on Crosby.

“We have the right to believe it was a bad call. It was an impact on [Thursday] night’s game. We don’t think it was the right call,” he said. “You don’t play the same way when you’re ahead. We deserved better regarding the result. We’ve been working hard lately. We played a good game. We’re battling. We don’t have many breaks. To win a game, you need a break. We don’t have a break. You need some calls; we don’t have some calls. It’s tough. It’s tough to swallow. We have a young team and we have some respected veterans. We deserve better.”

The Penguins had chances to win the game after that penalty, but they never seemed to recover.

In total, Sidney played a whopping 22:32, finished with 2 points and -1, and won an amazing 16 of 25 face-offs!! Sidney has really been improving in that area in the past few games, but he still has a long way to go before he hits the 50% mark overall.

The Penguins are now 1-8-1 in their past 10 games and continue their fight with the St. Louis Blues for the worst overall record in the NHL.

Full game recap here.

As the World Turns: Ziggy Palffy Retires, Eric Cairns is in the house!

It’s been a tumultuous 24 hours for Sidney Crosby.

First, his wingman Zigmund Palffy (pictured) retired suddenly due to a re-occurring shoulder injury.

The talented right winger retired from the NHL on Wednesday much to the shock of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who signed the 33-year-old to a three-year contract on Aug. 8.

Palffy, a native of Slovakia, cited to a Slovakian newspaper that a chronic shoulder injury, which had required two previous surgeries, as the determining factor in his decision to step away from the game.

I’ve head some moronic suggestions that Palffy retired simply because 1. He is busy planning his wedding 2. He was fighting with Sidney Crosby and/or 3. He was pushed out by the Penguins as they needed cap room to keep Marc-Andre Fleury on the roster.

The simple fact is that Palffy’s shoulder has been injured about 4 times now, and Palffy is not the type of person who loves hockey so much that he would play with constant and intense pain (ala Steve Yzerman).
I have a much more in-depth look at Zigmund Palffy’s over at Hockey Rants.

"I know that he was hurting," Crosby said. "His shoulder, his back -- his back hurt him for a long time. And with that hit that Hordichuk gave him, I think his shoulder was pretty sore, too."

The Penguins went quickly to work finding Palffy’s “replacement”, goonish forward/defenseman Eric Cairns.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired 6-6 and 241-pound defenseman Eric Cairns from the Florida Panthers in exchange for a sixth round pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, it was announced today by General Manager Craig Patrick.

Cairns, 31, has appeared in 429 career NHL games with the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and Florida Panthers, recording 41 points (9+32) and 1,090 penalty minutes.

While Eric Cairns is not going to reproduce 0.01% of Palffy’s offence, he will bring an element of protection that Crosby desperately needs.

From TSN.ca’s Bob MacKenzie:

It's obvious why the Pittsburgh Penguins traded for tough guy Eric Cairns, because the word on the street was out there, loud and clear all over the NHL: it's open season on Sidney Crosby.

Forget for a moment what you think of Sid the kid. You may be among those who thinks Crosby is a precocious, petulant prima dona with a bad temper, or you may be in the group who believes he's an ultra-competitive superstar franchise player with dynamic qualities.

What matters right now, though, is what happened on Monday night when the Vancouver Canucks ran roughshod over Crosby every chance they got and what happened was nothing.

For reasons only the Pittsburgh penguins ownership, management and players can explain, the Penguins' best player -- there's no debating that point, by the way -- was offered no protection from Bryan Allen and the other Canucks who targeted him for extra physical abuse.

Watching the Canucks push around Crosby, it was easy to see why some might speculate that the Penguins have some internal problems. The fact is, who would protect Crosby? Marc Recchi? Tomas Surovy? The Penguins needed some nasty beef and Eric Cairns does his job fairly well.

Still, Eric Cairns plays very little in comparison to Sidney Crosby. Crosby plays against the meanest and nastiest defensive defensemen, so he is still going to get pushed around a lot. Cairns may help deter those who might take a few ‘extra’ liberties with El Sid, but it’s not going to just turn into easy street for Sidney.

Another day and another loss for the Penguins. This time, they got doubled up by the surging Canucks 4-2. It wasn't a case of the Penguins playing poorly, but the fact is the Canucks just have more talent all around and it was apparent in this game.

“We had our chances. Their goalie made some great saves. I thought we created some stuff and we took some quality shots, but there’s nights when the puck goes in and there’s nights when their goalie makes some key saves,” Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. “When you’re coming down off a long road trip, the first game is always tough to play. We knew that we were playing against a quality team. We were trying to outwork those guys and I thought our work ethic was there and that was a good sign. Physically, we didn’t back down. They were physical and we were physical.”

An inspired Sidney finished with 1 Power Play goal and 6 shots on goal. He went EVEN and actually won more faceoffs than he lost!! (10 for 19). On the bad side of the ledger, Sidney took 2 minor penalties and he is having problems with his discipline.

Full game recap here.

Sidney Learning at the School of Hard Knocks

As Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux can attest to, the big stars always get more attention both off and on the ice.

Shawna Richer of the Globe and Mail takes a look at a banged-up Crosby.

In the visitor's dressing room at the United Center after a weekend game, Sidney Crosby sported a fat, tender lip, not the first of his rookie National Hockey League season and, he glumly agreed, not likely his last.

A Blackhawks defender elbowed him hard in the chops on a surge to the net. No penalty was called. He was not surprised. And in a new approach to things, he did not argue for one.

This is the Pittsburgh Penguins centre's latest challenge in navigating his first professional season, and it's a perplexing problem more suited to a philosopher than a hockey player: How at once does a man change yet find a way to stay the same?

Mr. Crosby recently realized that the aggressive and uber-competitive style that made him the consensus No. 1 choice in the NHL entry draft hasn't earned any breaks from referees, on calls and non-calls both for and against him. He's learning his reflex to object can hurt his team, which is struggling with just 11 wins, second fewest in the league, entering last night.

The "New NHL" was supposed to protect the stars from getting hooked, held, and basically obstructed from doing 'their thing'. The refs can't protect Crosby from everything, and his style of play will lead him to getting hurt. Peter Forsberg, the biggest diver of them all, has suffered many serious injuries from his style of play. Mario Lemieux suffers from painful ailments because of the love he's been given by opposing defenders over the years.
Either Crosby becomes a total floater, or he learns to deal with the aches and pains. Paul Kariya's game really suffered as a member of the Avalanche when he became afraid to go anywhere near the high traffic zones. Eric Lindros, too, also suffered when he became a shell of himself. Can Crosby handle the love?

Full article can be found here.

Penguins 1 - Blackhawks 4: What the hell??

How bad are the Penguins?? They lost to the Dinner Jackets, and now they lose to the Chickenhawks??

It's so bad that even Dick Tarnstrom finds himself a healthy scratch.

Chicago scored the first three goals Friday night and the Blackhawks never looked back in a 4-1 win over the Penguins.

Andy Hilbert got the Blackhawks on the scoreboard first 6:15 into the game. Off a rebound, he backhanded a shot past Marc-Andre Fleury and into the net.

Hilbert backhanded another puck past Fleury 5:20 later to make it 2-0.

Chicago needed 1:03 more to boost its lead to 3-0. Radim Vrbata converted on a power play for the Blackhawks.

Colby Armstrong cut the Penguins’ deficit to 3-1 with a power-play goal. He took a pass from Sidney Crosby and looked around Blackhawks goalie Adam Munro on the far post and was able to slide the puck just inside the post and jam it into the net. Ziggy Palffy earned the other assist.

Martin Lapointe made it 4-1 when he scored a power-play goal 9:30 into the third period.

Sir Sidney was one of the few Penguins who were playing good although he put up just a lone assist in 17:56 of ice time. Sidney managed to finish EVEN and win 50% of his draws!!! He went 12 for 24, which is pretty damn good for Crosby.

Bill Wirtz <3 Sidney Crosby

Chicago Blackhawks fans (all 16 of them) will actually get to see a home game.
On TV.
In their own CITY!
In the United States of America!
Like OMG d00d!

What could have possibly melted Dollar Bill Wirtz's ice-cold heart?

Why, Sidney Crosby, of course!!!

Perhaps rookie phenom Sidney Crosby's most impressive accomplishment will come in his 43rd NHL game Friday when his Pittsburgh Penguins face the Blackhawks at the United Center.

Because of the hype that accompanied Crosby's arrival in the NHL, the game will be televised locally on Comcast SportsNet.

"I don't know what to say about that," Crosby said sheepishly after Thursday's practice at the United Center. "It's good if there is a little bit of excitement. I've been in similar situations before where there is probably a little more build-up than usual."

I'm not sure what else Crosby could say, other than "How cheap is this guy? Is this the only home game people in Chi-Town can see on TV?"

Chicago, one of the Original 6 franchises, ranks 23rd in attendance with an average of 14,684. That's actually quite amazing, giving the crappiness of the franchise in recent years.

Still, I just don't get Wirtz' aversion to keeping his team's games off of TV when they play at home. His logic: People will stop coming to games and start watching at home.

Except, that's not how it works in the real world. Chicago has a huge population and lots of money, yet the Hawks can't even draw 15k per game! The AHL Wolves get better support many nights. That shouldn't happen!

If the team isn't on TV, then people don't get exposed to the team and people just stop caring. If there are no home games on TV, then people's minds are on something else that is on the tube, and the Hawks gets less exposure overall. Young kinds are growing up and watching da Bulls and da Bears and the White Sox and the Cubs on TV. That makes an impression. The Hawks? They rarely appear on TV and the press barely bothers to cover them. With such a loathsome owner, who would want to support this club?

Perhaps if the Hawks drafted Sidney Crosby, they would show a lot more home games.

Naaahhhh.
(crossposted)

Penguins 1 - Blue Jackets 6: Rock Bottom!

It appears coach Michel Therrien was correct. The Penguins DO want to be the worst defensive team in the NHL.

How else can you explain last night's putrid effort? 6 goals for the Dinner Jackets? The Blow Jackets hover around the 2 goals-per-game mark. Letting in 6 is not acceptable.

Goaltender Dany Sabourin earned his first NHL start, and if I were running the team, it would be his last. Sabourin was horrible and let in softy after softy.

Penguins goaltender Dany Sabourin, making his fourth career start, turned the puck over to Fedorov seconds into the game, and the forward slid a cross-ice pass to Nash, who scored from the right slot. The goal was the quickest to start a game in the Blue Jackets' short history.

It was really so bad that you had to laugh. If Thibault is injured for the year, the Penguins need to have a better option than Dany Sabourin as the backup. I'm sorry, but he sucks.

Sidney Crosby is hardly blameless, since he was just pathetic himself. Crosby was pointless and -2 with 2 minor penalties in 20:26 of ice time. Crosby had over 8 minutes of Power Play ice time and he and the Penguins produced nothing.

Full game recap here.

Penguins 1 - Oilers 3: Bugger off, Horcoff!

Shawn Horcoff certainly helped me in my office pool with all three Oilers goals in a 3-1 win over the hapless Penguins.

After a post-snub tear, Crosby was held pointless on the night. He finished EVEN with just 2 shots on goal and 3 missed shots in 18:11 of ice time. He can thank Mr. Peca for that.

After the game, coach Therrien was none too pleased with his ‘defense’

“I am not impressed. It’s a pathetic performance. Half of the team doesn’t care,” Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. “That defensive squad; I am really starting to believe their goal is to be the worst defensive squad in the league. They are doing such a great job to be the worst defensive squad in the league. They turn the puck over; they have no vision; they are soft. I have never seen a bunch of defensemen as soft as this."

“There are a lot of guys who don’t care. They pretend to care, but I know they don’t care,” he continued. “What’s the solution? We’re going to find the solution."

A solution? Well, that’s GM Craig Patrick’s problem. When you put together a team that has less defensive ability and defensive interest than Valeri Bure, it’s pretty hard to fix with any amount of coaching.

Full game recap here.

Sidney Crosby's Secret Wedding

Who knew??

Penguins 3 - Atlanta 4: Crosby's Losing It!

If you had January 7th, 2006, as the date Sidney Crosby finally 'snapped' from all of the pressure, consider yourself TEH WINNAH!!!

He didn't turn into the Green Hulk, but it's obvious that Sid is losing his composure and the Penguins have nobody to protect him from opposing numbnuts like Ilya Kovalchuk.

Crosby took four penalties Saturday - including a diving minor late in the second period that led to an unsportsmanlike conduct call when he gestured to referee Stephane Auger from the penalty box. The Thrashers did not score on that power play, but did while Crosby was serving his first penalty, for hooking.

Sidney finished with 2 assists, -1, 2 shots on goal and a respectable 12 for 27 on faceoffs in 19:15 of ice time. Still, the 4 minors really negate much of the good work he had done setting up teammates.

With the assists, Sidney now has points in 10 straight games, which no other rookie has done this season.

Full game recap here.

Don Cherry Defends Sidney Crosby?

It seems Sidney Crosby has some support from the most unlikely source: Don Cherry!

After many months of attacking Sidney as a 'hot dog' and a 'diver', Don Cherry came to the defense of Sidney on yesterday's Coach's Corner (CBC's Hockey Night in Canada) after Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk punked out Sid during Friday's game.

"I've seen a lot of things in my life but I've never seen a guy pointing to a guy in the penalty box," Cherry said. "Someone should've broken his (Kovalchuk's) arm but they didn't."

"I'm starting to like Crosby more and more because he doesn't back down," Cherry said. "They (Pittsburgh) absolutely have to get somebody to ride shotgun with him.

"He's an 18-year-old kid...this is ridiculous."

With all of the money the Pens spent in the offseason, why didn't they pick up a big scary goon to back Sidney up?

Full story here.

Penguins 4 - Atlanta 6: Crosby Thrashed!

'Twas not a good night for Sidney Crosby at all!!

After giving up 5 goals to start the game, the Penguins managed to score 4 to make it close...until Ilya Kovalchuk buried a goal into an empty net and celebrated like he'd just won the damn lottery.

Crosby picked up one assist but largely had a forgettable night for the Penguins. The rookie center was held to one assist and the Thrashers scored each time he was penalized, though the first goal technically came right as the power play was ending.

Still, the super rookie was proud of the way his team rallied.

"It would have been easy to pack it in," Crosby said. "Hopefully, we can learn from this, but at the same time we have to be proud with the way we played in the third period."

El Sid finished with just 1 lone assist in 20:32 of ice time. Sidney also did not have a single shot on net, took two minor penalties, and went -2.

On the positive side, he went a respectable (for him) 10 for 23 on faceoffs and dished out 4 hits.

Full game recap here.

Penguins 6 - Canadiens 4: Venerate This!

So, once upon a time, Sidney Crosby used to worship at the shrine of Les Habitants du Hockey. You can imagine the media made a big deal about Crosby playing against his old favourite team IN CANADA. Yes, he already played them in Pittsburgh, but somehow this is like 1,000 times more special!
D'uh!

Crosby certainly put on a show as the rest of the team did their best to give the game away to the struggling Canadiens. After building a 3-0, the Pens gave away 4 straight goals before they smartened up and took the game back.

With between 30 and 40 family and friends watching in the sold-out Bell Centre seats, Crosby scored two goals, including the winner, as the Penguins posted a wild 6-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.

It was Crosby's first NHL game in Montreal against the team he cheered for as a child in Cole Harbour, N.S., and which in 1984 drafted his father, Troy, who was in attendance.

And to top it all, Crosby got a rousing ovation when he was named the game's first star.

"To come here, where I saw my first NHL game, to play against the team I grew up watching and to get the win and score a couple of goals, was a really nice feeling," he said.

Crosby finished with 2 goals and +2 in 18:59 of ice time. El Sid the Kid fired 5 shots on goal, but once again sucked eggs in the faceoff circle (3 for 14)

Crosby now has 12 points in 6 games since he was rejected for Team Canada's Olympic Roster. What has Todd Bertuzzi done? Nothing, as expected.

Full game recap here.

Penguins 2 - Toronto 3(OT): Crosby Breaks his Canadian Cherry

Sidney Crosby played his first NHL game ever in Canada (like ohmygod) and put on quite a show. Unfortunately, Bryan McCabe, currently the NHLs luckiest schmuck, had a puck bounce off of his chest and into the net as the Leafs took the OT victory.

Bryan McCabe’s goal gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 overtime win Monday night over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It was a strange ending for the Penguins as Kyle Wellwood’s shot deflected off goaltender Jocelyn Thibault, hit McCabe on the left shoulder and bounced into the net for the game-winning goal.

Sergei Gonchar got the Penguins (10-19-9) near the start of the first period.

Sidney Crosby backhanded a pass to Ziggy Palffy at the top of the crease. Palffy shot the puck at the net and Ed Belfour made the save. However, Gonchar, who trailed the play, tapped the rebound into a wide-open net 5:47 into the first period.

Sidney finished with 1 assist and -1 in 17:08 of ice time along with 2 shots on goal and a putrid 5 for 16 on faceoffs.

Game recap here.

Crosby reflects on WJC Experience

With the World Junior Championships into the playoffs stage, it's obvious that Canada, while undefeated, is lacking a big scoring star. Canada doesn't even have a player in the Top 15!!! If only Crosby had a twin brother who was playing junior...

Anyhoo, Crosby and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury discuss their WJC experiences for Pittsburghpenguins.com

"That’s pretty unique. It was a great experience,” Crosby said. “You make friendships there that last forever. To have played with three of those other guys who are in the organization now and who could be teammates in the future, it’s pretty amazing. There’s definitely a special bond there.”

Full article here.

Penguins 4 - Rangers 3(OT): Crosby brings in the New Year in style!

Sidney Crosby was, once again, the overtime hero for the Penguins as they beat the Gotham Rangers by a 4-3 score.

It may have been about eight hours early Saturday, but the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrated the end of 2005 in style – with a 4-3 overtime win over the New York Rangers at Mellon Arena.

The Penguins (10-19-8) dominated play. They limited the Rangers (22-12-5) to 17 shots on the afternoon. All three of New York’s goals came on the power play.

Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby continued his scoring tear. He had an assist and scored the game-winner in overtime. In his last six games, the rookie has five goals and 10 assists. For the season, the 18-year-old has 42 points (19+23) and trails Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin by two points in the rookie scoring race.

“We played a strong game. They have a great power play, but five-on-five we didn’t really give them too much,” he said. “That’s a strong offensive team and we did a good job.”

Crosby had 1 goal and 1 assist in 23:02 of ice time with 4 shots on goal. Consider Crosby back into the Calder race with Alexander Ovechkin.

Full game recap here.