He may be 36 years old, but Sidney Crosby still draws crowds. The proof: my boss from Quebec, Jean-Nicolas Blanchet, had traveled from the old capital to see the Penguins star in action. Probably his only NHL game before the Kings visit the Videotron Center.
• Also read: A win for Papa Crosby and three points to climb to 13th place in history
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The Penguins captain livened up the show with a three-pointer. To the great joy of the boss, who was able to witness this 4-3 win for the Penguins in the shootout.
The fathers of the Penguins players, who also came to the Bell Center, also got their money's worth. In fact, almost everyone saw their offspring perform during the shootout. There are 12 of them who replaced each other before Samuel Montembeault.
Twelve is enough! But there was still a little bit missing to reach the 20-round mark between the Panthers and the Capitals on December 16, 2014. On the other hand, it is a record in the history of the Canadian. The old mark of 10 was set on February 15, 2011 against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Canadian players also had fun, albeit a little less. They were the ones who sat front row at the Crosby Show. It is important to remember that Martin St-Louis' team managed to score three goals in the first period. That hadn't happened this season.
Overall they did well. Especially in overtime, where they aimed nine shots at Alex Nedeljkovic. What the young Habs skaters have learned, however, is that we cannot afford to relax in the slightest against the team from Pennsylvania. Kaiden Guhle can confirm this.
Despite an overall good evening, the Alberta defender had some more difficult tasks. The first goal he scored, Crosby showed him he was a good fox. The number 87 pretended to put pressure on one side but quickly dodged to surprise Guhle, who then waited calmly behind his net.
The resulting chaos led to the first item of the night with “Sid the Kid.” The two he added later allowed him to rank alongside Mark Recchi for 13th place among all-time leading scorers in NHL history (1,533 points).
“Crosby, you have to look after him all the time. “He’s everywhere,” St-Louis described. He doesn't commit many turnovers. This is a good example that we can follow to better manage our game. »
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In the two days leading up to this confrontation, St-Louis had focused his speech on how important it was for his attackers to “play inside”, i.e. approach the opposing goalkeeper at the right moment.
A deficiency that partially explains why Montreal's forwards have the worst performance in the NHL with 53 goals.
We saw some attackers walking around where it hurts. Juraj Slafkovsky, Sean Monahan, who scored there, and Josh Anderson, who again missed a golden opportunity a foot from the goal line, were there.
“We have improved that,” admitted the Canadian coach. Now it's time to find consistency. When you talk about it, guys take it in and have good intentions. They can’t forget that as we work on other aspects of our game.”
However, it was still the Habs' defenders who led the club's attack and scored the first two goals.
Additionally, Jayden Struble scored his second goal in three games. He's one step away from his career high…from Northeastern.
Difficult numerical inferiority
If the Canadian's penalty unit had completed this task, the result of the game would have been known much earlier. The Habs allowed two goals while one of their members was in the penalty box.
In that regard, one might wonder if the Penguins haven't regained their offensive touch.
It was the second time in as many nights that Mike Sullivan's squad took advantage of two numerical superiorities.
Quite a turnaround considering they were previously 0-for-36. Although going up against a team that has a 73.5% efficiency rate is good for confidence.