Sometimes it can be easy to forget the truly remarkable talent of Sidney Crosby.
And then he reminds you. Time and time again.
That was the case Sunday evening at PPG Paints Arena, as Crosby — in the 1,100th game of his career — led the scuffling Penguins to a 3-2 overtime win over Nashville.
Crosby took a pass from Rickard Rakell 2:21 into overtime and carefully guided it into the net, as the Pens rallied back to snap a four-game skid.
“It’s obviously a huge win,” said Penguins coach Mike Sullivan afterwards. “When you lose a few games in a row, and I said this to the players, sometimes you feel like you’re never going to win again.”
The goal was the 1,400th point of Crosby’s career, and also was his 19th career overtime goal, moving him into sole possession on the NHL’s all-time overtime points list with 38.
“Down the stretch here in the season, the points are so important always, but especially now when we’re fighting for (playoff) position,” Crosby said. “So for that one to go in, in overtime, is huge.”
Crosby also added another goal and assisted one more, contributing to all three Penguins goals on the evening.
“I thought he was terrific all night,” Sullivan said. “Obviously his offensive production speaks for itself, but it was more than that… He was a threat every time he was on the ice.
“When Sid elevates his game like he did tonight, it gives our whole bench a boost.”
Getting to the win was far from easy, however.
The Penguins, got an early goal from Crosby, but nearly 29 minutes into the game, Pittsburgh was being outshot 19-4.
“I thought we did a good job of just staying with it,” Crosby said. “We didn’t have a ton of shots early on, but I still thought we played alright. I didn’t think that was an indication of how we were playing necessarily.
“But too look up and see 11-3 (in shots), it’s easy to get frustrated by that. We just stuck with it and eventually climbed our way back.”
Nick Cousins broke the tie for Nashville early in the third period, but Jason Zucker scored his first goal since January 17 just over four minutes later to draw the game even.
“He’s such a great teammate. I love him," Sullivan said of Zucker, who has missed much of the season with multiple injuries. “He’s a competitive guy, he plays the game so hard, and he cares.
“You could see the reaction of his teammates and that’s a window into what they think about him.”
From that point on, Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith continued a dazzling night in which he made 33 saves.
“I approached it like any other game,” sad DeSmith, who has now won back-to-back starts. “Sometimes you get the bounces, sometimes you don’t. I thought I played a good game, a couple big saves here and there.”
It was more than a couple. DeSmith, to his credit, probably stole this one. And it was needed. The Penguins had lost seven of the previous nine games, but inched closer to securing a playoff spot with the win.
Pittsburgh is now 19 points ahead of the Islanders and could clinch a 16th straight postseason berth in the next week. The Penguins also fended off Washington, which sits four points behind the Pens for third place in the Metropolitan Division and beat Boston earlier in the day.
“We’ve been in these types of games throughout the year,” Crosby said. “But down the stretch here, we’re going to be in more and have to understand that there’s a small margin for error.”
Crosby and the Rak?
Despite not starting the game on the same line, Crosby and Rakell combined for all three Penguins' goals, with Rakell assisting the trio. After the game, Sullivan said that linking the two on a line together was "certainly an option" and had already been discussed among the coaches prior to today's game.
Up next
The Penguins practice Monday before flying to New York for the start of a home-and-home series with the Islanders Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.