*Photo from DK Pittsburgh Sports*
With every game, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is making history. Evan Rodrigues scored, Crosby dished out two assists, and the Penguins defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
The two assists for Crosby make him the 14th player in NHL history to record 400 or more multi point games, and currently the only active NHL player to do it. After missing time this season due to surgery and stays on the Covid-19 protocol list, Crosby has gotten off to a blazing start when he's on the ice, having tallied 17 points in 16 games.
Crosby said of his hot start to the season that "I just think I feel better timingwise. There's a lot more chances there. If I had to evaluate, I would've liked to bury a few more. But I think, besides that, as far as generating chances, timing and that sort of thing, it's a lot more comfortable than it was starting out."
To start the scoring, Kasperi Kapanen tallied his 7th goal of the season 11:08 into the game, making it a 1-0 lead for the Penguins. In the second period, Rodrigues doubled the lead to 2-0 when he scored a power play goal, already his 9th goal of the season, assisted by Jeff Carter and Kris Letang. 15 seconds later, Jonathan Drouin got the Canadiens on the board to make it 2-1. Mike Matheson scored for the Penguins and Jesse Ylonen scored for Montreal, making it 3-2 after two periods.
In the 3rd period, the Penguins pulled away. First up it was Brian Dumoulin, scoring his first goal of the season just 28 seconds into the 3rd period, making it a 4-2 Penguins lead, back at two goals, thanks to an assist by Crosby. At the 9:38 marker, Brian Boyle scored his 3rd goal of the season, unassisted, to make it a 5-2 margin.
Dumoulin said of Crosby's milestone that "Sid's the type of guy where there's some guys, obviously, in the league where you know they're going to make the play. Sid's one of those. He can have two guys on him, three guys or could be in a tough situation, but you know he'll find a way to get the puck through and get it to you. Obviously, have to be ready."
Tristan Jarry continued his rebound season for the Penguins with another strong showing in net, getting another win, the 5th in a row for the Penguins. Jarry turned aside 28 of the 30 shots on goal the Canadiens had, putting up a .933 save percentage. In 22 starts this season, Jarry has a 13-5-4 record with a .934 save percentage.
Jake Allen got the loss in net as the Canadiens are in the midst of a free fall, having lost now 7 straight games. Allen saved 26 of 31 shots from the Penguins, good for just a .839 save percentage in the game. Allen's record falls to a measly 5-15-2 in 23 starts this season.
Montreal defenseman Jeff Petry said of the losing streak that "There's nothing you can say. It's frustrating. It's the same things over and over. We're not playing as a team. We're not playing as a group. It's like you're searching to find where people are. Seems like there's no structure out there."
The Canadiens are back in action on Thursday with a home matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers, with Allen the likely starter in goal. Jarry will likely start for the Penguins when they host the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night at home.
Comments
Post a Comment