It's so Awesome to (not) be Sidney Crosby

Despite the fact that I have a very clear disclaimed at the top of The Sidney Crosby Show blog that says ...

(I am not Sidney Crosby or officially affiliated with Sidney Crosby, just so you know)

... it doesn't seem to stop people from sending me emails, somehow thinking that I am Sidney Crosby, himself.

I mean, other than the fact that I have no endorsement deals, hockey skills, horse teeth, longish hair, millions of dollars, and a big nose, we're pretty much similar, no?

Just a sample of emails I've had in the past month ...

" Your so hot dont change =p"

Ok, I won't.

"Hey sidney i heard that u want to learn french. I have a sister who is 18 that speaks very well in french and is willing to teach you. i also heard that you were were looking for a girl who will go with your hockey schule, we have a brother who plays hockey and we go to every game so we are really big hockey fans so my sister go's good with hockey schule and she would love life on the road.

to contact me email me at skanky-ho@bunnymail.com"

We know puckbunnies aren't exactly MIT graduates, but the level of grammar and spelling in some of these emails is downright scary. Sidney's bunnies are pretty hungry for some tutoring. Would Sidney accept any French tutoring from somebody who's family clearly lacks in writing skills?

And from some Swedish guy ...

"I am a big fan of Sidney Crosby, and i would be werry happy if i could get you autogarf.

I am living in sweden so i need to stay up late evry evning when pitsburgh
plays to see you do goals!

IF i could get you autogarf, you can send it too [Address withheld out of mercy]"

Oh, and random scary comment of the day:
"hey sidney my ex-boyfriend is obsessed with you his name is preston rogers!!!"

Ahh, the benefits of blogging... Now, excuse me while I go sign some autogarfs for Preston Rogers.

Caution: Beware of Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins made some huge strides this year, thanks to their kiddie corps. You know, after their quick defeat to the Senators, that this group is just raring for another go at it.

Mike Burse of The Bleacher Report has a look at the Penguins heading into next season...

2007 will not be the Year of the Penguin.

For most of the Pens roster, the postseason loss to the Ottawa Senators marked a virgin run in the Stanley Cup playoffs—but with four solid lines that can score and take hits, the future looks bright in Pittsburgh.

In fact, if the Penguins can pick up a capable fourth or fifth defenseman and one more defender to come off the bench, they should be primed to make a run at a championship in the next few years.

Wasn't the Penguins biggest problem their goaltending? (Ie. lack of GOOD goaltending)

Marc-Andre Fleury: I'm not entirely convinced that this young man will be able to lead Pittsburgh to a Stanley Cup. Historically, he has struggled in the clutch—especially during his time in the QMJHL and at the World Junior under-20 Championship Tournament. Unless he shows that he can handle the playoffs, Malki may have to be traded before the Penguins win a Cup.

I'm not convinced Fleury will develop into a good goalie, either, which means the Penguins need to find a quality backup. Thibault is a nice backup, but they need somebody better in case Fleury falters again.

Goaltenders are funny toys, and can take a long time to pan out. Just look at how long it took Rick DiPietro to pan out with the Islanders? Fleury may not turn into a GOOD NHL goalie for 2-3 seasons, which would be too late for the Penguins.

If I'm the Pens management, I'm going after a good 1B goaltender that can be counted on...an arrangement like they have in Minnesota or Nashville, for instance.

Sidney Crosby: Person of Influence?

Time Magazine is having an online vote, where you can submit your opinion on who the Top 100 most influential people in North America are. (don't say the world, because some fisherman in Thailand gives two shakes of a rat's ass about Steven Colbert).

Anyway, you can go stuff the ballot boxes on Sidney's behalf, by cranking up the meter to 100 and submitting your VOTE. The winner gets to be featured on the cover, while the losers don't.

Right now, Sidney is in 4th place, behind Steven Colbert, JK Rowling, and some Japanese guy who designed Super Mario.

So, go over to the site and VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!

Sidney Crosby is "Dapper" Again

It looks like Sidney Crosby has netted himself yet another award ... The Dapper Dan Award!

From PittsburghPenguins.com:

Sidney Crosby received the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year award Sunday night, becoming the youngest recipient in the 71-year history of the prestigious charity event.

Crosby was honored along with WNBA star Swin Cash (Sportswoman of the Year) and Steelers chairman Dan Rooney (Lifetime Achievement Award) in a gala affair at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

Penguins winger Mark Recchi made the official presentation to Crosby before a crowd of more than 1,000, which gave the 19-year-old NHL scoring champion a standing ovation.

Crosby congratulated Cash and Rooney, thanked the fans for their enthusiastic support and wrapped up his acceptance speech by saying, “Hopefully, we can bring you, the fans, a Stanley Cup.”

Others representing the Penguins at the dinner were general manager Ray Shero, head coach Michel Therrien, assistant coaches Andre Savard and Mike Yeo, club executives Ken Sawyer and David Morehouse and broadcasters Phil Bourque, Bob Errey and Paul Steigerwald.

The event raises money for Dapper Dan Charities, which supports the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania.

Crosby is the third Penguins player to win the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year award, joining Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.

How Much Would YOU Pay for Sidney's Old Clothes?

If you said anything less than USD$ 47,520, you'd be outta luck.

From TSN.ca:

Sidney Crosby's first NHL all-star jersey went for US$47,520 in an auction that earned US$140,397 for Hockey Fights Cancer.

Other notable final bids were $5,681 for Brendan Shanahan's jersey and $5,020 for Martin Brodeur's jersey. The jerseys were worn during the first period of the Jan. 24 game in Dallas and were auctioned online as a NHL-NHLPA project.

Other final bids on jerseys: Ryan Miller, $4,880; Rick Nash, $4,860; Joe Sakic, $4,679.00; Eric Staal, $4,520; Daniel Briere, $4,464.44; Roberto Luongo, $3,640.00; and Vincent Lecavalier, $3,179.

Hockey Fights Cancer was founded in 1998 by the NHL and NHLPA to raise money and awareness in the fight against cancer. More than US$9 million has been raised to date.

This just proves that Crosby is 10x better than Staal, Sakic, Nash, and Briere.

Picture of the Day: Sidney Crosby, Busted!

We've got another portrait of Sidney Crosby here for you, courtesy of Jenna ...

I my name is Jenna from Virginia and I am huge fan of the Penguins. I am and artist and I took the opportunity to paint a picture of Sidney Crosby and I thought I would share it with you...


This picture perfectly captures the pain of Sidney Crosby now that he's out of the playoffs :(

No Sidney Crosby at the World Championships

So, according to TSN.ca, there will be no Sidney Crosby at the World Championships in Moscow :(

NHL scoring champion Sidney Crosby will not play for Team Canada at the upcoming IIHF world hockey championship because of a broken left foot.

The Pittsburgh Penguins star revealed Saturday that he played the final 2½ weeks of the regular season and the playoffs with the injury.

Crosby was expected to join Team Canada for the second year in a row after Pittsburgh was eliminated by Ottawa in the first round of the playoffs.

He believes he broke a bone in the foot while blocking a shot March 16 against Montreal, but he didn't miss any games. Crosby had five goals and nine assists in his final 11 regular season games and three goals and two assists in five playoff games.

"The first two weeks were pretty sore," Crosby said as the Penguins players assembled Saturday before breaking for the summer. "After a couple of weeks, it starts to heal and it got a little better after that. It just needs time. . After a couple of weeks, it didn't have any effect."

What Has Sidney Learned This Post-Season?

The Penguins certainly got schooled by the Ottawa Senators, and Sidney Crosby was no exception.

While The Cros was great against the Senators, he still has lots to learn and higher height to climb to

From Wayne Scanlan:

For the longest time, Sidney Crosby stayed in his equipment, staring into space, sitting at a stall used by Wayne Gretzky after his final NHL game in Canada.

The difference is, this Kid will be back. Again and again.

Crosby's first dance in a Stanley Cup playoff ended with a stern lesson at the hands of the Ottawa Senators, who eliminated Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins at the first opportunity.

Men will do that to boys.

"There's a lot to learn from this," said Crosby, 19, one of 16 Penguins in their initial NHL postseason.

Cheer up, Sid the Kid.

If anyone in black and white could hold his head high at the end of the night, it was you, in the first of many playoff experiences. You'll be back, with more help next time.

Crosby gave all he had, and what he has, of course, is considerable. But he couldn't do it alone, especially when the Senators draped themselves over him at every opportunity.

And, hopefully, Evgeni Malkin and the others will learn a lot from this as well.

Game 5: Penguins 0 - Senators 3: GAME OVER!

*sigh*

So long, sayanora, ciao... Sidney Crosby and the Penguins fizzled out with a 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators, losing the series 4-0 and going out like a lamb...

Crosby finished the game pointless (duh) in 23:44 of ice time with 6 shots on goal.

With 5 points in 5 games, Crosby's first playoff mirrors those of past greats like Lemieux and Gretzky, although we all expected more.

His 'lack' of production was certainly not for a lack of effort, as Crosby was flying all over the ice and firing shot after shot. If Sidney's teammates showed up 1/2 as much as Sid did, this series wouldn't be over. Recchi, Malkin, Armstrong... where the hell did they go?

From Yahoo! Sports:

The Ottawa Senators brought a decisive end to Sidney Crosby's teenage years in the NHL.

Ray Emery made 20 saves for his first playoff shutout, leading Ottawa to a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night to win their first-round series in five games. Dany Heatley, Antoine Vermette and Chris Kelly scored second-period goals.

The Senators scored three times in the middle period and held the 19-year-old Crosby without a point for a second straight game.

Emery helped Ottawa weather two early 5-on-3s, including one that lasted 1:14 after Dean McAmmond was given a delay of game minor for backhanding the puck over the glass with Wade Redden already in the penalty box.

Heatley scored his second goal of the series on a power play 1:08 into the second and Vermette made it 2-0 when he drove through the slot and scored on Marc-Andre Fleury.

Kelly brought the sellout crowd to its feet with a roar once again when he beat Fleury at 17:55.

Ottawa, which has never squandered a 3-1 series lead, advances to face one of the three teams in the New York area. The fourth-seeded Senators will either travel to No. 2 New Jersey, or host the sixth-seeded New York Rangers or the eighth-seeded New York Islanders when the second round begins.

NOW, the question is whether Crosby will join Team Canada at the World Championships. It would be a great way for him to get some action on the International scene.

Photo of the Day: Crosby's Got a BIG Head!

Paul Nichols is a long-suffering Crapitals fan who likes to do caricatures and cartoon drawings. Now that the Caps are in their usual playoff golfing mode, I guess he's got a lot more time on his hands. heh heh heh...

Here is a picture of Sidney Crosby that he sent me ... apparently inspired by the NHL 2007's BIG HEAD feature.


You can find more of his work at his official website www.pnichols.com or at this flickr site.

Sidney's Got the Eye of the Tiger

(cue Survivor soundtrack)


So, what do you see when you look into Sidney Crosby's eyes?

Some people see Maurice Richard, apparently ...

When it comes to determining Sidney Crosby's "tell" for big-game readiness, the eyes have it.

"People have often talked about the look in Maurice Richard's eyes back when he played, and that's what I've seen in Sidney," said his agent, Pat Brisson.

He's going to respond the way he did at the Memorial Cup and two world junior championships," said former NHL coach Pierre McGuire, an analyst for NBC. "The first year he played in the world juniors, he was solid but the team lost. The next year he was unbelievable. You could see the dogged determination he brought into the gold medal game."

McGuire remembered sitting with Wayne Gretzky watching Crosby practice. "And Gretzky said, 'Look how intense he is. Look how focused he is,' " McGuire recalled. "When a player has that, it doesn't change. They have championship spirit, championship vision, championship work ethic. So they aren't intimidated by the moment."

Brisson understood Crosby's molten intensity after he watched Crosby's Canada team lose 4-3 to the USA for the 2004 world juniors title. "I saw his eyes coming out of the locker room, and those eyes were telling me he hates to lose," Brisson said. "Those eyes told me, 'Next year we are going to win this thing,' and next year he did win it."

Well, no matter how intense Crosby might look, I don't think he can make up for the suckiness of his teammates...

You can view the full article right over here.

Game 4: Penguins 1 - Senators 2

Ruh Roh!!!

The Penguins are just one loss away from hitting the links after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of those Senators last night.

Sidney, while he didn't hit the score sheet, was dangerous all night long.

So, why are the Pens losing?

Well, according to Jon Press over at The Fanhouse, the Pens' role players are sucking big time:

The Pens have had goals scored by only three different forwards -- Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal and Gary Roberts. Notably yet to light the lamp (or bulge the onion bag, as our British friends might say), are big guns Evgeni Malkin and Mark Recchi and role players Michel Ouellet, Erik Christensen, Ryan Malone and Colby Armstrong -- half a dozen players who combined to score 122 goals during the regular season.

The common thread here (with the exception of Recchi), of course, is youth. This is the first playoff experience for the other five skaters, and it shows. Malkin has four assists, but looked largely indifferent until late in Game Three. Armstrong has provided a bit of a physical presence, but no offense. Ouellet has had his moments skating mostly with Roberts and Staal, but has fired only seven shots on goal in the four games. Christensen is getting no ice time (and was scratched for Game Four), and Ryan Malone has a team-worst minus-4 rating. The list of goal-less Pens goes on and on, but you get the point.

Sidney played 22:22 and finished with 4 shots on goal. With Sidney snakebit, nobody was picking up the slack, and now the Penguins are on the brink ...

THN Names Sidney Crosby MVP

Sidney Crosby can add another honour to his packed trophy case as The Hockey News named him the NHL's Most Valuable Player, which will be featured in their April 24th issue.

Story Linkage:

­The Hockey News has named Pittsburgh Penguins superstar sophomore Sidney Crosby its 2006-07 NHL Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player.

The 19-year-old sensation, who this season became the youngest player ever to capture the Art Ross Trophy as the league¹s scoring champion, was the consensus pick for both honors by the publication¹s editorial panel.

Others who merited consideration as MVP were Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, Vincent Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche and Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils. Lecavalier, Dany Heatley of the Ottawa Senators, Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks and Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings were in the running for best player.

Obviously, this is just a warmup to the real thing.

In case you were wondering, here are some of the other THN awards:
Best First-Year Player: Malkin, Pittsburgh
Best Defenseman: Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit
Toughest Player: Brendan Witt, New York Islanders
Breakout Player: Kevin Bieksa, Vancouver.

Game 3: Penguins 2 - Senators 4

Sidney Crosby has been doing a pretty good job in this series, but the rest of his team hasn't been quite up to the task of stopping the powerful Senators attack.

The Penguins mustered just 19 shots (5 of them by Sidney) on Ray Emery and couldn't capitalize on a first minute goal by Gary Roberts (who's been great for the Pens) as they lost 4-2 to the Senators.

Sidney Crosby had another good night with 1 goal, 1 assist, 5 shots on goal, and +2 in 21:44 of ice time.

From Yahoo! Sports:

The Ottawa Senators could live with giving away one game to Pittsburgh. What they were determined not to do was give away another playoff series.

Daniel Alfredsson scored twice during a second dominating Ottawa second period in as many days. The Senators made this lead stand, taking Pittsburgh's stars and its crowd out of the game for a 4-2 victory Sunday in Game 3 of their first-round series.

The Senators seized back home-ice advantage -- they have as many as two home games remaining in the series -- by slowing Pittsburgh's stars and getting two key goals from one of their own in Alfredsson.

Ottawa, rebounding from a 4-3 loss at home barely 24 hours before in which it twice squandered third-period leads, takes a 2-1 lead into Game 4 on Tuesday night. Game 5 follows in Ottawa on Thursday.

"We can't afford to get down 3-1," the Penguins' Gary Roberts said. "We know that. We've got to come out with a much better effort Tuesday."

"Teams are focusing on capitalizing when they get their chances and we have to do a better job of not making mistakes," Crosby said.

It would help if M-A Fleury would play much better. He's had 2 bad games and 1 good game. At this rate, the Penguins will lose the series in 6.

Game 2: Penguins 4 - Senators 3

CROSBY FOR TEH WINZ!!!!111

The Penguins played a MUCH better game in Game 2, tightly controlling the Senators attack, pressuring the Senators defense, and actually WINNING the damn thing.

It helped that Marc-Andre Fleury didn't suck.

It also helped that Sidney Crosby scored the game winning goal, and looked even more comfortable as he was lustily booed by the crowd in Ottawa.

From Yahoo! Sports:

Sidney Crosby doesn't seek attention, he just has a knack of drawing it.

Crosby scored his second goal in two playoff games 11:44 into the third period to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, evening their first-round series at one win apiece.

Crosby, who scored a late power-play goal in Wednesday's series-opening 6-3 loss, netted Pittsburgh's third goal of the third period at 11:44.

"The spotlight is not important to me," Crosby said. "You work hard all year, and even before that, you work hard your whole life to get in the NHL and then to get in the playoffs. Where the spotlight is, that's not really a concern for me. I just want to win."

The Penguins tied it twice in the final frame before the 19-year-old NHL scoring champion gave them their second and final lead.

"Those players find the way to hurt another team and that's what he did," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said.

Crosby, the league's youngest Art Ross Trophy winner, drove the net and planted his stick on the ice to redirect Mark Recchi's cross-ice pass beyond goalie Ray Emery.

"You couldn't write it any better," Recchi said. "I was hoping it would stand up. I was hoping he would get that game-winner. He deserved it. He put himself in a great position and he played a heck of a game."

On the night, Sidney finished with 1 goal, 1 assist, -1, and 2 shots on goal in 17:47 of ice time.

Game 3 is Sunday Night at 6PM EST/3PM PST.

Crosby Won't Change for Anyone!

As most girls ought to know by now, you just change a guy.

Sidney says he won't change his approach to playing the Senators as reported by Sean Farrell of the Associated Press:

Pittsburgh's 19-year-old superstar says that when he takes the ice Saturday for Game 2 of the Penguins' first-round playoff series with Ottawa he is going to take the same approach he used to become the league's youngest scoring leader.

"Whoever I play, whether it's Ottawa or anybody else, I always worry about me, I don't worry about who I'm playing against," said Crosby, who scored a late power-play goal in Wednesday's series-opening 6-3 loss to the Senators. "It's always a challenge every time you play. You know you're playing against some strong defensive players and you always prepare yourself the same way and that's the way I look at it."

Crosby has yet to record an even-strength point against Ottawa this season, including four regular-season games.

"I just have to move my feet and skate, and I'm confident that when I skate I'm going to create chances or they're going to have to take penalties," Crosby said. "It's going to be one of the two. For sure, there are probably going to be less opportunities to score, but you have to make sure that when you get them, you put them in. It's just a matter of being focused and executing."

Exactly! Crosby just needs to be himself and the good times will roll naturally.

Sidney Wants Me to Talk About Someone Else

Yeah, apparently Sidney Crosby thinks this series isn't about him ...

Riiiight. As if anyone is watching the series for anything else. Does anyone really care about Jason Spezza, Ray Emery, or Dany Heatley? Do you read Playboy for the articles?

From Pierre LeBrun:

Sidney Crosby may be the NHL's leading scorer but he's also still a teenager.

And he sounded wise beyond his years Thursday when downplaying his role in getting the Pittsburgh Penguins back on track in their first-round playoffs series with the Ottawa Senators. "It's not me versus the Senators," Crosby said after practice. "It's our team. Maybe sometimes people don't realize that but that's the way it is. And we're not going to get anywhere without our group.

"I'm not going to help my team by trying to do it myself."

The 19-year-old superstar was largely kept in check in Wednesday night's 6-3 loss in Game 1 at Scotiabank Place, scoring a late power-play goal but only getting three shots on net.

Sidney was doing badly when he was trying to do it all by himself. Remember that slump? That being said, he's the big story and better do better in Game 2.

Game 1: Senators 6 - Penguins 3

So, Sidney and the boys got a good schoolin' from the Senators in Game 1 of the series.

Marc-Andre Fleury was the suck, Sidney had a goal called off, and the Sens offense just had their way with the Penguins all night long like Lionel Ritchie.

Sidney did score a goal in 22:43 of ice time. He also finished -1 with 3 shots on goal. Obviously, Sidney should have had two goals, but the video goal judges were heavily biased and did their jobs poorly.

From Yahoo!:

Sidney Crosby found little to celebrate after his first NHL playoff game.

Andrej Meszaros and Chris Kelly scored 5:01 apart early in the first period and the Ottawa Senators ruined Crosby's postseason debut with a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night in the opening game of the Eastern Conference first-round series.

Tom Preissing made it 3-0 with a power-play goal 14:38 into second after Ottawa scored twice on Marc-Andre Fleury in the opening period when the Senators had a 16-4 shots advantage.

Crosby scored one goal and had another disallowed.

"Instead of going out there and trying to set the tone ourselves, I think we tried go out there and feel things out," Crosby said. "When you do that, you get caught watching sometimes and unfortunately they were able to get a lead on us."

The 19-year-old Crosby, who led the NHL with 120 points, scored the game's final goal at 19:11 for his first playoff point. He also had a goal waved off 37 seconds into the third after Dany Heatley put Ottawa up 4-1 with a power-play goal 28 seconds earlier.

"That actually helped us bear down and focus a little more," Preissing said. "When we did restore that three-goal lead, maybe we let up a little bit, and I think that non-goal helped restore our focus."

Sidney's First Playoff Test

Sidney Crosby has taken the hockey world by storm in winning the Art Ross trophy at the tender age of 19.

Now, it's time for him to step up and prove that he can perform at that same high level in the NHL playoffs.

TV Analyst Pierre McGuire says Sidney will be just fine ...

"I saw Sidney get absolutely mauled at the Memorial Cup in London, Ont., a few years ago, and he did just fine (winning the tournament scoring title)," McGuire said.

"You have to understand, Sidney and other great players have been targeted since they were 10 years old. They know how to deal with it."

"Crosby handles the rough stuff just fine," McGuire said. "All the great players do. Besides, Sidney usually plays with Recchi and Ryan Malone, or Staal."

Crosby will likely be shadowed by Mike Fisher and the defensive tandem of Phillips-Volchenkov, something The Kid is all too used to by now.

So, how have other legendary players fared in their first playoff tests in the past?

Wayne Gretzky
Age 19: 3GP 2-1-3PTS
Age 20: 9GP 7-14-21PTS

Mario Lemieux
Age 23: 11GP 12-7-19PTS

Steve Yzerman
Age 18: 4GP 3-3-6PTS

Joe Thornton
Age 19: 11GP 3-6-9PTS

Vincent Lecavalier
Age 23: 11GP 3-3-6PTS

By those standards, the great players do good things in the playoffs, regardless of age. Anything less than a point-a-game for Sidney would be a disappointment.

Yahoo! Plenty of People are Searching for Sidney Crosby

While blogger Mike Chen was searching the web for pictures of Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff making out, he noticed that Sidney Crosby is one of the more popular search queries on Yahoo's engine.


Here is Mike's take:

The NHL must be pleased -- people actually know who one of their players is! He's more popular than Jon "Napoleon Dynamite" Heder, lazy hungry people ("Quick and Easy Dinner)", racist radio folks, and fancy-ass cell phones. However, he's not quite as popular as hot British actresses.

But one can dream, right?

It certainly is outstanding that Sidney Crosby has entered popular culture enough to be Top 10 on Yahoo! searches. The NHL, Crosby, and his agent must be doing something right if The Kid has entered the conciousness of mainstream America.

Penguins 2 - Rangers 1: Here we come, Ottawa!

Sidney Crosby and the boys won the game, but missed out on a division championship as the evil Devils captured that title (again).

Sidney was great with assists on both goals, and moved his point total to 120!

From Yahoo! Sports:

The Pittsburgh Penguins won, yet felt like losers if only for one night. The New York Rangers lost, yet came out of their final regular-season game feeling like winners.

Gary Roberts and Mark Recchi, the oldest players on a Pittsburgh team led by teenage scoring champion Sidney Crosby, scored goals and the Penguins completed one of the biggest single-season turnarounds in NHL history by beating the New York Rangers 2-1 Saturday night.

Despite losing, the Rangers secured sixth place in the Eastern Conference and avoided a first-round rematch against New Jersey when Tampa Bay lost a 3-2 shootout decision to Atlanta. The Rangers, who ended with 94 points to seventh-place Tampa Bay's 93, will play the Thrashers in a first-round series while the Lightning take on the Devils.

"The higher the seed, the bigger the accomplishment," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "Beyond that, we're going to prepare for Atlanta. We want to play anybody, we don't care who it is. Now that we've got that determined, away we go."

The same goes for the Penguins -- away they go, and to Ottawa for the first round.

Crosby was a big part of that at age 19, accumulating 120 points in his sophomore season to become the youngest scoring champion in NHL history. He ended with six points more than San Jose's Joe Thornton, who had three points in his final game to finish with 114.

Crosby assisted on goals by the 41-year-old Roberts and the 39-year-old Recchi, even though he is less than half the age of both.

"I'm proud of it, but it's not why I play the game," Crosby said of his scoring championship. "Maybe I'll have more time to reflect on it when the season's over."

Vincent Lecavalier Has Some Advice for Sidney Crosby

Vincent Lecavalier, who was once expected to be the next saviour of hockey (aka the Michael Jordan of Hockey), knows the kind of pressure Sidney Crosby is under.

Eric Duhatschek of The Globe and Mail looks to Vincent to see what is in store for Crosby as the Penguins head into the playoffs.

Vincent Lecavalier understands a little bit about this business of being a high-profile junior star thrust into the National Hockey League spotlight at an early age.

He also understands just how much scrutiny the Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby will be under once the playoffs begin next week and Crosby will be participating, rather than watching, for the first time in his life.

Unlike Lecavalier, who needed to wait until his fifth professional season before the Tampa Bay Lightning qualified for the playoffs, Crosby's debut will come in his sophomore season. At 19, Crosby looks as if he'll win his first NHL scoring title this season, something Lecavalier has yet to do. On the other hand, Lecavalier, 26, has a Stanley Cup ring, something Crosby will be chasing once the playoffs get under way.

The Penguins are a lot of people's choice as a dark-horse playoff contender because of their wealth of young talent and the fact that expectations will be minimal in their breakout season.

How, Lecavalier was asked, did he approach his first playoff? As a chance to dip his toes, cautiously, in the water? Or go all out in an attempt to win a championship?

"No, I think you try to put pressure on yourself . . . good pressure, to try to win," Lecavalier said in an NHL conference call yesterday. "Once you get into the playoffs, you never know what can happen. It's a great experience that first playoff game. I remember my first couple of shifts, I was just running around with my head cut off, I was just so excited.

"But obviously, when it's your first time, it's great."

You can find the entire article right here.

Video: Sidney Crosby Interview

Sidney Crosby sits down with a local Pittsburgh anchor to talk about the birds, bees, etc ...


That's the first 3-4 minutes. You can view the full 15 minutes right here.

Penguins 3 - Senators 2: A Playoff Preview?

The Sens and Pens could very well meet each other in the first round of the playoffs or later, so tonight's game was a good preview.

Sid and the boys did a solid job, coming out on top with a 3-2 victory.

Sidney had a decent night with 1 assist and 3 shots on goal in 19:56 of ice time.

The real star of the night was Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 35 stops in his bid to win back the #1 goaltending job.

From NHL.com:

The Pittsburgh Penguins gave themselves a chance to get home-ice advantage in their first playoff series in six years.

Maxime Talbot scored with 9.8 seconds remaining to lift the Penguins to a 3-2 win over Ottawa on Thursday night and preserve an opportunity to claim home-ice advantage in their first-round playoff matchup against the Senators.

Talbot put a shot past Ray Emery into the top of the net during a 4-on-4 situation in the dying moments of the third, moving Pittsburgh into a tie with Ottawa for fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 103 points.

"It was a pretty exciting game," Talbot said. "It was a playoff atmosphere and a playoff-type of game. It's going to be an interesting series."

Maxim Ouellet and Gary Roberts both scored power-play goals during a five-minute elbowing major against Ottawa's Jason Spezza in the first.

Roberts, acquired in a Feb. 27 trade with Florida, helped Toronto eliminate the Senators from the playoffs three times in his four seasons with the Maple Leafs.

"They're a real character team," Roberts said. "They battle hard every night. I know we had some success against them in Toronto but not because we outplayed them. Fortunately our goalie was better than their goalie but if you look at the games in all those series, Ottawa outchanced us on numerous occasions. They're a great club and it's going to be a heck of a series."

Video: Sidney Crosby's Top 5 Goals

Here's a great video clip of Sidney Crosby's Top 5 goals, complete with commentary from Sid himself.




(Thanks to the NHL Fanhouse for the linkage)

Penguins 1 - Sabres 4: Sliced and Diced

Getty Images

Sidney Crosby and the Penguins were absolutely sliced up by the Buffalo Sabres tonight in a 4-1 loss. The Sabres were determined to win the Eastern Conference title, and they did that with some fine goaltending and expert penalty killing.

Crosby? He finished pointless and -1 in 20:54 of ice time. Not a memorable game for him...

From Yahoo! Sports:

The streets lining Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena are draped with banners celebrating the Penguins' first playoff appearance in six years. The Buffalo Sabres gave the home team a reminder of what it takes to win in the postseason.

The Sabres clinched the Northeast Division and wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time in 27 years, slowing Pittsburgh's rush to the postseason with a 4-1 victory on Tuesday night.

In a possible playoff preview, Thomas Vanek scored his 40th and Jason Pominville scored slightly more than a minute later in the third period to put the Sabres up by three in only their fourth victory in Pittsburgh in 10 years. They had been 3-12-5-1 there since the 1996-97 season.

Clearly, the Sabres weren't awed by the huge sign celebrating Penguins stars such as Sidney Crosby that covers nearly one side of a building near the arena.

"We took care of the puck, we didn't make a lot of mistakes and we didn't give them a lot of opportunities," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We took a lot of pride in playing in our own end."

"We had opportunities on the power play and we didn't take advantage of them," Crosby said after the Penguins went 0-for-8 on the power play. "I think if we score on one of those power plays, it's a whole different game."

If you score on one of the PPs, it's still just a 4-2 game, not accounting for how the universe would have shifted and ...err.. *brain explodes*

Is Sidney Crosby Soothing?

Can watching Sidney Crosby soothe the soul and ease the mind?

It certainly can, if you watch his exploits, rather than some thuggish activity that seems to make all of the headlines.

From TSN.ca:

Here's a suggestion for critics of hockey; instead of complaining about the problem of violence in the sport just sit down on the couch and actually watch Sidney Crosby play a game.

How many times do we need to see the image of Chris Simon whacking Ryan Hollweg in the face with his stick or watch as Todd Fedoruk gets carried off the ice on a stretcher after getting knocked out in a fight?

That's not to say that those incidents aren't important, but there are also amazing things happening in hockey and a great deal of them come from the stick of a certain 19-year-old scoring machine from Nova Scotia.

To be fair, when the sports news channels do find the time to report on hockey and there isn't a scandal to talk about, they are likely to mention Crosby before all other players. And with good reason because the future of the Penguins franchise is lighting up the scoreboard and making his team a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference.

Sure, there are plenty of thugs in the NHL that damage the sport with their violent antics, but are those incidents so prevalent that we should forget how great hockey can be when someone as skilled as Crosby takes the ice? I think not.

Well, we know the media, especially in the USoA, loves violence and unusual events. Sidney doing amazing things with the puck is fun to watch, but not that unusual. Seeing Chris Simon hack Ryan Hollweg across the face is NOT the usual activity in hockey, despite with some mediots might want you to think.

Penguins 4 - Maple Leafs 5(OT): Don't Call it a Comeback!

With a nationally televised game (CBC), I was hoping for Sidney to score 4 and lead the Penguins to a thrashing over the Maple Leafs.

Sadly, the best we got was a comeback and a 5-4 OT loss, giving the Leafs two important points in their fight for a playoff spot.

Crosby was OK last night, scoring once and going +1 in 23:15 of ice time, but the Penguins were obviously not nearly as desperate as the Leafs.

From AOL.com:

The Toronto Maple Leafs didn't gain any ground in their bid for a playoff spot, and Tomas Kaberle made sure they didn't lose any either.

Kaberle scored his second goal of the game at 3:55 of overtime and the Maple Leafs took a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.

Pittsburgh's Ryan Whitney tied it with four seconds left in regulation after the Penguins pulled goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for an extra skater. Pittsburgh rallied from a 4-1 deficit.

Overtime was delayed for at least 10 minutes after a fan collapsed in the stands. Fans and medical personal pumped the man's chest for several minutes before the fan was carried out. It happened right after Whitney tied the game.

"The gentleman was successfully resuscitated and he was on his way to more care," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said.

Maurice said the delay helped them.

"It was an emotional roller coaster. To fire that into the middle of what we're going through, clearly that is more important," Maurice said.

Chad Kilger, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Bryan McCabe also scored for the Maple Leafs, who stayed in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, one point and one place below Montreal and the playoff cutoff. Toronto, which missed the playoffs last year, has four games left.

"This is it, four left," Toronto goalie Andrew Raycroft said. "It's going to come down to the last one probably, we've got to hang in it. It would be nice to reel off a few more and give us some room."

The Maple Leafs, who lead Carolina and the New York Islanders by three points, have won seven straight at home after starting the season 11-15-5 at the Air Canada Centre. This game attracted a franchise-record crowd of 19,649.

"If we had to wait one hour, we would wait one hour," Kaberle said of the fan. "It's something you don't want to see. We're glad the person is good."

Gary Roberts, Maxime Talbot and Sidney Crosby also scored for the Penguins, who moved one point ahead of idle New Jersey for first place in the Atlantic Division.

"We were fortunate to get a point," Roberts said. "When you play in this atmosphere and the environment you got to be on your toes. If the Leafs make the playoffs they are going to be a force for sure. They are big and strong. If you get there anybody can win."