After Sidney Crosby produced another inspiring effort in Pittsburgh’s 3-1 win over Montreal on Saturday, Kris Letang started talking about how the captain’s been shooting more… then grinned.
“I'm just glad he's the mustache man again, I guess,” Letang said. “That freaking mustache gets him going."
It’s true, Crosby’s goal streak has coincided with the start of Movember. He scored both goals in Thursday’s 2-1 overtime victory over Anaheim, and tallied twice again tonight to give Crosby back-to-back multiple-goal efforts for just the seventh time in his career.
It’s also just the third time in his career that he has scored four consecutive team goals (Mar. 19-21, 2017; Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 2018).
Going back further, Crosby also factored in on seven consecutive team goals dating back to Oct. 29 vs. Minnesota, tying the most consecutive goals he has scored/assisted on in his career (3 times, most recently in 2009-10). The last player to factor on seven consecutive Penguins goals was Letang (7 from Jan. 27-30, 2015).
After a relatively slow start to the year production-wise (at least from his incredibly high standards), Crosby has found his offensive game with a vengeance. He now has 14 points (5G-9A) in 13 games.
"I think inevitably, he's always such a determined player," Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. "When he goes through some of the ebbs and flows of a season, like all players do, he has an uncanny ability to will himself out of it.”
With the help of a beard trimmer, along with some hard work. Sullivan spoke about how even though Crosby is one of the greatest players of all time, he wants to be coached, he wants feedback, and “he wants help, quite honestly.”
So, as Crosby had just one goal in his first 11 games while the Penguins were mired in an 0-5-1 winless stretch, Sullivan and his staff picked their spots with the captain by watching video clips together and talking through them. For Crosby, the biggest takeaway from that process was just trying to be in the right spots.
“Sometimes when you're pressing, you end up guessing or hesitating and forcing things, and it ends up snowballing a bit,” Crosby said. “I think just getting back to being good positionally, just fundamental stuff… then trusting that the chances will come.”
He added that playing on a line with Evgeni Malkin, who’s tied with Crosby for the team lead in points with 14, and Rickard Rakell, who paces the Penguins with six goals, certainly doesn’t hurt.
“We’re generating some looks, we have the puck, and I think that builds some confidence, too,” Crosby said. “They've been unbelievable. So, I think all that combined with just the way we're playing as a group, we're defending better, and it's way more fun to play that way.”
Before tonight, the Penguins had allowed at least three goals in each of their first 11 games. Sullivan’s message to the group was that they wouldn’t score their way out of their slump, they would defend their way out of it. The Penguins have since surrendered just two goals in their last two games, both wins.
“It’s just going over the fundamentals,” Crosby said. “The same things we went over for a while here, but just reinforcing them and really breaking it down into small things. All those little details add up to winning hockey and it’s nice to get rewarded for it. The more we do it and we get rewarded, I think that’s good for us, just to see that and feel that. We’ll continue to build but we’ve definitely done a better job of tightening things up.”
Crosby also made sure to credit Alex Nedeljkovic, who’s been between the pipes for both of the victories, saying the netminder has made some big saves for the Penguins.
“Last week, I thought I was playing fine. But wasn't making that extra save for the guys, necessarily,” Nedeljkovic said. “These last two games, I felt pretty much the same. Maybe made one more save for them, and you know what, they haven't really given up much in terms of me having to cover up some mistakes and whatnot. So, I think all around, our game is in a pretty good spot right now.”
Blake Lizotte rounded out the scoring with his first as a Penguin. He debuted on Thursday after recovering from a concussion sustained in the Kraft Hockeyville preseason game.
The Penguins have a day off on Sunday before flying to Long Island on Monday to kick off a three-game road trip. They’ll face the Islanders, Hurricanes and Capitals.
