PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was Sidney Crosby in regulation and Sidney Crosby in a shootout. The only scores by the Pens and the only ones needed in a 2-1 shootout win against Carolina Thursday night.
It’s Crosby’s 19th goal of the season, that’s tied for fourth in the NHL this year. The 36-year-old is having one of his better seasons, which is saying something for the man who’s played more years in the NHL than he’s been alive (19 in, 17 before). Crosby has more goals than Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and so many other younger stars.
“It’s been great,” said Pens goalie Alex Nedeljkovic of being Crosby’s teammate. “It’s been awesome. He’s a great leader. He knows what to say at the right times. He’s a pretty positive guy as well. He’s the hardest working guy on the ice every day at practice. It’s fun to be challenged like that and to go against him in practice every day.”
“It’s also fun to watch him score on the other guy instead of me.”
Crosby scored at 8:51 of the first period on a nearly blind back-hand assist from Rickard Rakell. Pens held that lead until 14:52 as Carolina was swarming the Pens zone, a shot from Teuvo Taravainen went off the skate of Kris Letang for the only Hurricanes goal.
Nedeljkovic had his second-best game as a Penguin, stopping 23 shots and all three in the shootout.
“They don’t make it easy on you, they are a hard-working team,” Nedeljkovic said. “I thought we met their intensity. We came ready to go and found a way to win. It’s not always going to be a high-scoring game. It’s nice to win those low ones.”
“For him (Nedeljkovic) to get a win against his former team and for us to keep momentum, obviously we’ve been on the losing side multiple times,” Crosby said.
Carolina had won 10 of the last 12 matchups against Pittsburgh.
“Seems like every game is a one-goal game, right down to the wire every time,” Crosby said. “Division games are big. To kinda get over the hump and get on the winning side. I think that’s big. I hope that will boost our confidence in a tight game like that. We are going to see a lot of those.”
Pens have won four of five games, unfortunately for them every team in the division has at least six points in their last 10 games. That means the Pens remain in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division.
Up Next
Pens are at Ottawa on Saturday with the following game, Wednesday, December 27 at the Islanders.