For what was likely the final time Sidney Crosby visited Philadelphia this year he gave them some very familiar parting gifts. The Philadelphia faithful were treated to another two Sidney Crosby goals in a 5-1 Penguins victory on Tuesday night.
Sidney Crosby’s blazing start continues
Despite being 38 years old Sidney Crosby is still producing at rates twenty somethings would be jealous of. He scored twice, one at even-strength and one on the power play. It gives him 18 goals on the year which puts him two off the league lead.
Pay no mind to his career high shooting percentage of 29% because we are living in the now. Crosby is on a 59 goal pace to start this season which is considerably higher than his previous best of 51 goals in 2009-10. It has been an insane start to the year for the Captain and it has been a real pleasure to see him continue to play at this level.
Power play remains league best
After going three for four on the power play last night the Penguins retain their league best power play mark at 33.3%. Over the course of the year they have been way better than in recent years. The decisions they are making and the usage of the zone space has been so much better.
When you combine their willingness to use the zone and their ability to target the time and space the killers give up it translates into a lot of goals given the talent on the ice. What was a stagnant and dead in the water sequence in recent memory is back to being exciting.
The second Sidney Crosby goal is a great showcase of how things are different. In previous years the Penguins breakout was stale and slow. It was robotic in the worst way possible. Last night, Erik Karlsson took the puck deep in the Penguins zone and properly assessed that he had space to skate into. Instead, of forcing the drop pass breakout he just took off and took the space given. His speed earned a controlled entry, his passing and awareness allowed him to find Rust, Rust made an amazing pass, and Sid being Sid led to the finish.
On Bryan Rust’s power play goal it was great recognition by the Penguins winger to just keep taking the space they gave him. Rust was able to keep descending towards the Flyers goal after his curl up top and eventually got close enough to be within his shooting range. He didn’t overthink things. He took what was given. Then he executed a terrific shot and sometimes the power play can be this simple
Part of the reason he had that space is because the top killer stuttered in his movement. He anticipated the puck going back to Karlsson. The killers up top need to be concerned with Karlsson because the Penguins are willing to shoot from up top on a regular basis. When all areas of the ice are dangerous it prevents the killing team from cheating.
Novak’s power play goal was the result of a ton of shooting from up top by Evgeni Malkin. It sure was fun to see Geno ripping multiple slappers on the power play again. The shooting barrage causes chaos and gets the killers moving around trying to win rebound battles. The one Flyer chases to the boards and vacates the soft spot in the middle. This allowed Novak to settle right into that space in the bumper spot. He then put a quality shot on goal.
Three very different power play goals all because the Penguins take what is given.
Kid line
Yesterday, Rutger McGroarty received a much deserved promotion to the big club. His five game stretch in the AHL had him scoring four goals and seven points. It was enough for Kyle Dubas to get him back in Pittsburgh.
Waiting for him was a line with the other two notable rookies on the team. He joined forces with Ben Kindel and Ville Koivunen. The line played ten minutes together at 5v5 and carried an xGF% of 70.30. When Rakell gets back into the lineup and the Penguins can run a proper Crosby and Malkin one-two punch this line of rookies has some potential to do some damage together.
I thought Ville Koivunen had one of his stronger games of the year. You can tell the goalless start of his career is eating at him. He just needs to get the first one and things will fall into place for him. He has great vision and passing. Kindel and McGroarty will be the beneficiaries of it in the games to come.
Up next for the Penguins will be Jake Guentzel and the conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night in Florida
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