PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - Peter Taglianetti had 74 career NHL assists, he never had one like his son did Thursday night. Assistant equipment manager Jon Taglianetti was a part of the Pens key play of the night.
Scoreless five minutes into the second period, Brian Dumoulin broke his stick in the defensive zone. Crosby handed his stick to Dumoulin and as Kris Letang gathered the puck and headed into the Flyers zone, a stickless Crosby headed to the bench. That's where Taglianetti reached out over the bench with a replacement and Crosby grabbed the stick in full sprint. Sid headed for the goal, grabbed the rebound from the Letang shot and put it home.
"Heck of a play by Tags there," said forward Jeff Carter. "I just saw Sid come to the bench. Tags is running around, threw him a stick. It's a great read by Sid just to follow up the play and find the loose pucks. That's what good players do, they find the open areas and wait for the pucks to come out at them."
The players on the bench immediately turned and hugged Taglianetti. The first assist by a Taglianetti in a NHL game since April 25, 1994. Even Pens PA Announcer Ryan Mill acknowledged the feat, mentioning Taglianetti with an assist on the goal.
"It was go great," said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. "It was a real heads up play by Tags to get Sid's stick in particular. He was able to get his stick to him at a key time. He was hanging over the boards, hanging over our players so Sid could grab it in stride."
"When Sid ended up scoring the goal, the players ended up going crazy on the bench. They all rallied around Tags. I was happy for him. The equipment guys, they work extremely hard for this team. They work long hours. They are as commitment as our players are to try to help us win games."
"Those types of moments are great. I'm sure it was a big moment for Tags, but it was a big moment for our team too. That's how teams become closer. I think the raw emotion that you witnessed is an indication of how our guys feel about Tags. He's a terrific guy. Our players understand what our equipment guys, our medical staff and all of these guys behind the scenes. What these guys do to help us be successful. It was great."
"I think if we would have won the game, Tags would have gotten the helmet at the end."
Which goes to the player of the game. Tags, Dana Heinze and so many others deserve it for what they do every day.
