The Floodgates Have Opened for Crosby

As the clock ticked down in Pittsburgh's game against Vegas on Monday, Sidney Crosby took a pass from Jeff Carter, carried it just inside the blue line and let a shot fly into the empty net with 1:08 remaining in regulation.

It was his first goal in five games, and the second in his past 12 outings. But while the captain said getting that goal to seal what ended up being a 5-3 comeback effort "definitely" made him relax a bit, he wasn't too worried. The 34-year-old superstar has experienced stretches like that many times before in his Hall of Fame career.
"It would be nice to see more go in before that, but I wouldn't say I let it change the way I play it or affect me too much," Crosby said. "I think you understand that you keep getting chances, you got to trust that it'll go in."
And that's exactly what's happened, as he now has goals in three straight games. After scoring in Pittsburgh's a 6-4 win over Ottawa on Thursday, Crosby netted a hat trick (and added an assist for a four-point night) in a 5-2 victory in Columbus on Friday.

It's his first three-goal outing since Nov. 28, 2018 at Colorado, and the 12th of his career, which is tied with Evgeni Malkin for the second-most in Penguins franchise history. Crosby is now just four goals away from reaching 500 in his career.
Crosby's four-point night also pushed him past Hall-of-Famers Guy Lafleur (1,353) and Brendan Shanahan (1,354) for sole possession of 27th place on the NHL's all-time points list. It also marked his 404th multi-point effort, tying him with Ray Bourque for the 12th-most multi-point performances in NHL history.
"He's always been there," defenseman Brian Dumoulin said. "But even before this when pucks weren't going in, he was getting a lot of chances and driving play for us. So it's good to see him get rewarded with the hat trick tonight."
While we're not sure if we believe Crosby for saying this, according to him, it was an accidental hat trick. He claims he was trying to put the puck in an area where Bryan Rust could skate into it, but after not being able to do so, said they got crossed up. Instead, Crosby - who was along the half wall in the Penguins end - ended up banking it off the boards in the neutral zone at the perfect angle.
"I expected that he was gonna go straight, he ended up coming to the middle, and I missed him," Crosby said. "So I was more upset that I was gonna get an icing out of it. So for it to go in was a big bonus. I don't think I've scored one like that before. That was an interesting one. But definitely needed, and fun to see it go in."
Either way, he'll take it, especially with how much of a rollercoaster this season has been for Crosby personally. He missed the first seven games over the opening two weeks of the season as he recovered from an offseason wrist procedure. Then, right after making his season debut on Oct. 30 vs. New Jersey, Crosby tested positive for COVID-19 and missed another five games.
Rehabbing from an injury is one thing, while recovering from the virus was a completely different ballgame. It's been a process for him to recapture his very best game, but if he's not already there, he's getting pretty darn close.
"I feel good," Crosby said. "I mean, with the more games we've played here, I think it's been good just to get rhythm and timing and just getting games. We haven't had those breaks in bunches, which is nice. It's nice to get some rhythm and timing. We got a lot of games coming up, and hopefully can kind of work through that and get better."