Home Sports Yohe’s 10 observations: On Sidney Crosby, and the greatness of his latest accomplishment

Yohe’s 10 observations: On Sidney Crosby, and the greatness of his latest accomplishment

Alexandra Williams
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Yohe’s 10 observations: On Sidney Crosby, and the greatness of his latest accomplishment

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The greatest hockey players of all time possessed certain attributes that set them apart.

Mario Lemieux, in a nutshell, just had more talent than anyone else. Wayne Gretzky freakishly saw the game a second before it happened. Bobby Orr changed the game like no one before or since, incorporating offense into a defensive position. Connor McDavid’s speed is like nothing we’ve ever seen, and the same can be said of Alex Ovechkin’s shot.

And then, there is Sidney Crosby. We can focus on his backhand, the greatest in the sport’s history. He’s probably the greatest puck protector in history, too. When history analyzes Crosby, however, more than anything, his consistent greatness will be appreciated. Probably the most hyped player in hockey history, Crosby has more than lived up to the hype, precociously winning his first scoring title at age 19 and, at 36, still dominating the game like few others.

Crosby’s Penguins pulled off a surprising 5-2 win at Madison Square Garden on Monday, and the man who has been Pittsburgh’s captain for almost half of his life recorded a stunning achievement.

Thanks to his two-goal, one-assist performance against the New York Rangers, Crosby now has 82 points this season. Thus, he has now clinched producing a point per game or better in each of his first 19 NHL seasons, tying Gretzky’s record.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Mike Sullivan said. “All of these milestones that he’s reaching at this point are just more evidence that he’s one of the greatest players of all time.”

Crosby was asked if he’d be reaching out to Gretzky or his parents first to discuss the milestone.

“I don’t know, that’s a lot of pressure on me there,” he said with a laugh. “Whoever texted first, maybe. Obviously, something I didn’t want to talk about. It knew it was getting closer. Any time you can be in that company, it’s pretty cool.”

Crosby didn’t need long to make his mark in this contest. He assisted on Bryan Rust’s goal only 18 seconds into the game.

Midway through the first period, Crosby rocketed one of his patented deflections past New York goalie Igor Shesterkin.

Crosby finished off the Rangers when he blocked Artemi Panarin’s shot and then fired his 37th goal of the season.

He and Shesterkin had a strange run-in during the second period. Crosby inadvertently bumped Shesterkin from behind, and the New York goaltender took exception, shoving Crosby in the chest. Crosby never even looked at him.

“We were just competing out there,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything to it.”

Crosby is always competing, which is one of the many things that makes him special. Even with the Penguins currently on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, Crosby spoke about his team even on a night that was very much about him.

It’s simply his way.

“We know the circumstances,” he said. “No one is going to feel sorry for us. Whatever we’ve got to do to get wins. It was a great team win.”

Ten postgame observations

• Crosby has 82 points this season and, realistically, he should have around 100, if not more. Really. That’s how good he’s been.

Crosby has been playing on a Penguins team that has disappointed all season and that has been dysfunctional at times. Yet he keeps dominating, and keeps putting on a show almost every night. He’s only a few months shy of age 37, but there doesn’t appear to be any erosion of his physical skills.

He just keeps going and going.

Crosby was without question hockey’s best player for around a decade earlier in his career. McDavid passed him a few years ago, which was always a given. McDavid is 10 years younger, after all. But I find it remarkable that, at Crosby’s age, he’s still this great. It’s a testament to his training, his willpower, and his general brilliance.

Sullivan is right. He is one of the greatest hockey players of all time. Don’t ever take him for granted.

• The Penguins have eight games remaining this season, and Crosby has some major milestones within reach.

He’s four assists away from 1,000 for his career, currently sitting on 996. Crosby will become the 14th player in NHL history to reach the 1,000-assist mark.

Crosby is also three goals away from reaching 40 for the third time in his career. He’s also 15 goals away from his 600th goal, something that will likely have to wait until next season. Crosby would need 19 points in his final eight games to reach 1,600.

The numbers are staggering and we must remember that Crosby missed more than 100 games in his prime because of concussion issues.

• Crosby’s first goal was vintage.

His ability to deflect pucks is one of his many remarkable skills. We saw an all-time Crosby goal in Colorado last week and, while this one wasn’t quite as impressive, it was still eye-popping.

The physics involved with his deflections sometimes defy description.

It’s truly a testament to his greatness that Crosby, a pass-first player who is among the greatest playmakers of all time, missed all of those games in his prime and yet is still on the precipice of 600 goals. Think about that.

I think he’ll play for a few more years and I believe he has a real shot to reach 700 goals.

• Oh yes, the game.

What stood out to me in this game was simply the passion that the Penguins played with. It would take a miracle for them to reach the postseason, but they were blocking shots with reckless abandon all game.

Consider me impressed. This team never gives up. For all of its flaws — and there are many — you simply can’t say that this team doesn’t care. I happen to think it cares very much.

The Rangers found out on Monday. Sullivan’s team looked like it was participating in a playoff game.

• Rust has missed 20 games this season. He’s also scored 27 goals and is one of the NHL’s better penalty-killing forwards.

For good measure, he’s one of the most clutch Penguins of all time.

Not a bad package for a player, huh?

• Alex Nedeljkovic started for the fifth straight game, even though that wasn’t the plan.

Tristan Jarry became ill before the game and was unable to play. John Ludvig also missed the game because of illness and it is believed that many of the Penguins were under the weather.

Nedeljkovic was simply stellar. The Rangers enjoyed plenty of good looks, but he stood tall. His rebound control has been fantastic for most of the season. I can’t say enough about him.

• Erik Karlsson was called for two penalties in this game, and I thought they were both poor calls.

He rarely loses his composure but looked furious after the calls, and I can see why. One call was for moving a stick out of the way while it was lying on the ice. It appeared that the stick was broken, which explains why he swept it away. Lots of gray areas with that call, but I didn’t like it.

• It was an interesting decision on Shesterkin’s part to get in Crosby’s face.

The New York goaltender certainly is never boring to watch. Had Crosby similarly struck him, I have to assume — based on what we saw in the playoffs two years ago — Shesterkin would have fallen to the ice with the grace and theatrical timing of Broadway’s finest actor.

• Say what you will about Jeff Carter, but he’s been better this season and made a couple of very nice defensive plays to help preserve the victory after the Rangers pulled within a goal late in the third period.

Carter has been far better in a fourth-line role this season.

• Don’t look now but the Penguins are six points behind the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division and have two games in hand on the Flyers. The Penguins still have games against the teams directly in front of them, including the Capitals, Red Wings and Islanders.

They play in New Jersey on Tuesday night, and the Devils are one point behind them in the standings.

I’ve long ago written the Penguins off from making the playoffs, but the standings say what they say. They’re not out of this race, somehow. No, I wouldn’t bet on them to make the playoffs. But if they win in New Jersey on Tuesday, the game in Washington on Thursday suddenly becomes more interesting.

(Photo: Joshua Sarner / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

apr 01 penguins at rangers



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