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Penguins lose to lowly Canadiens; Sidney Crosby gets first multi-point game of the season | TribLIVE.com
Penguins/NHL

Penguins lose to lowly Canadiens; Sidney Crosby gets first multi-point game of the season

Seth Rorabaugh
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AP
The Penguins’ Sidney Crosby is checked to the ice by the Canadiens’ David Savard during the second period Saturday.

There are plenty of reasons Sidney Crosby one day will be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The start of his 2021-22 season will not be one of them.

Because of a combination of offseason wrist surgery that sidelined him to open the season and a bout with covid-19 that isolated him from his teammates throughout November, the Penguins’ captain was limited to eight games and three points (one goal, two assists) before Saturday’s home contest against the Montreal Canadiens.

Such figures allowed him to enter the day in a 59-way tie for 468th place in the NHL’s scoring race.

Even with such mediocre metrics, the Penguins are optimistic Crosby is rounding back into the form that has made him this franchise’s most important player.

“He’s getting better with every game that he plays,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “The puck follows him around. That’s always just been a characteristic of his game. With each game that he plays, he’s getting stronger. His stamina is improving, and his execution is getting better.

“His line is generating a lot, and I think he’s getting better with every game that he plays.”

There was evidence to validate that notion Saturday but not nearly enough as the Penguins lost 6-3 to the Canadiens, one of the NHL’s worst teams, at PPG Paints Arena.

With a goal and two assists, Crosby recorded his first multi-point game of the season. Despite that output, the Penguins had a season-best five-game winning streak snapped.

“We had opportunities,” Crosby said. “It was just hard for us to get a lead and gain momentum. We did some good things, but we still weren’t probably as sharp as we could have been, especially that first period.”

The Penguins largely dominated puck possession in this contest and registered a season-high 50 shots while the Canadiens collected 30.

Crosby and his primary linemates — Jake Guentzel on the left wing and Evan Rodrigues at right wing — were voracious with the puck. They were on the ice for 31 shots attempts for during five-on-five play and only allowed 12 against according to Natural Stat Trick.

“There are games during the year that you might not deserve to win and you end up with two points,” Rodrigues said. “Then there are games you (do) deserve to win and you (don’t). Today was one of those. We had 50 shots. We controlled (offensive) zone time and just didn’t get the two points.”

No one had any points for the better part of the first two periods of this game. The Canadiens did not score the first goal until 16:34 of the middle frame. After Crosby and Penguins defenseman Kris Letang failed to connect on a pass in the offensive zone, Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin converted the turnover into a breakaway and tucked a backhander through goaltender Casey DeSmith’s five hole for his third goal this season.

A power-play goal 2:33 into the third period tied the game. After a weak clearing attempt by Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry from his own left circle, Letang corralled the puck at the left point and poked a backhand pass to Guentzel above the left circle. Turning toward the net, Guentzel slid the puck low in the circle for Crosby who leaned forward to one-touch it to the high slot for Rodrigues. Taking a moment to survey the cage, Rodrigues lasered a wrister over goaltender Jake Allen’s right shoulder for his eighth goal. Crosby and Guentzel registered assists.

It took the Canadiens all of 32 seconds to reclaim a lead. After Canadiens forward Jake Anderson pushed the puck deep into the offensive zone on the right wing, linemate Sami Niku took control of it and centered a pass above the crease for forward Christian Dvorak. With Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen providing an insufficient backcheck, Dvorak lifted a forehand shot past DeSmith’s blocker for his fourth goal.

At 6:16 of the third, the visitors took a 3-1 lead. After Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki won a faceoff in the Penguins’ right circle against forward Teddy Blueger, Canadiens defenseman David Savard blasted a one-timer from the right point that was blocked by Blueger. On the ensuing rebound scramble in the slot, Canadiens forward Artturi Lehkonen swatted the puck with a forehand shot through DeSmith’s five hole for his third goal.

The Penguins persisted and made it a 3-2 deficit at 17:23 of the third. With DeSmith pulled for an extra attacker, Rodrigues forced an offensive zone turnover, allowing Penguins forward Jeff Carter to push the puck to the left wing. From there, Crosby one-touched the puck to the front of the crease where Kapanen inadvertently batted it backward. Carter followed up on the sequence by lifting a forehand shot off the crossbar and into the cage for his fifth goal. Assists wen tot Kapanen and Crosby.

After Anderson scored the eventual game-winning goal — his seventh of the season — at the 18:19 mark on an empty net, the Penguins relented and kept DeSmith on the bench for an extra attacker.

That tactic resulted in Crosby’s second goal of the season at 18:50. Taking a pass on the left half wall of the offensive zone, Carter distributed it to Kapanen, low to the right of the cage. From there, Kapanen one-touched it to the left circle where Crosby whacked a one-timer that found a narrow opening between Allen’s blocker and right hip on the near side. Kapanen and Carter collected assists.

Anderson was awarded another goal only 22 seconds later after Letang tripped him as he attacked the still empty net.

The scoring was capped at the 19:23 mark when Canadiens forward Tyler Toffoli air-mailed a wrister from his own zone into the open cage for his fifth goal.

That marked the first time in franchise history that the Penguins allowed three empty net goals in the same game.

As for DeSmith, it was only his fourth game of the season. Making 27 saves on 30 shots, his record fell to 0-3-1.

“I thought he was solid,” Sullivan said. “The goals that they got were good goals. They would have been real good saves if he were to make any of them. He made the saves he was supposed to make.”

And the Penguins’ captain is starting to do what he’s supposed to do.

Score.

“It’s nice to see it go in,” Crosby said. “Obviously, I’d rather it be in a win. The biggest thing the last few games is there’s been a lot more chances. It was tough there the first few games (after returning from covid-19). I think I had more games than practices after three or four games. That’s something that I knew was going to take a little bit of time. The last few games, there have been a lot more chances. Definitely nice to see it go in.”

Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.

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Categories: Penguins/NHL | Sports
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