Crosby Leads Penguins Past Lightning

The goal was vintage Sidney Crosby.

As the second-period clock ticked under 30 seconds, the Penguins’ captain took a short pass in the neutral zone from Patric Hornqvist, turned and accelerated.

Displaying the exquisite blend of speed, balance and deceptive power that make him such a singular talent, No. 87 blew past Ondrej Palat, Anton Stralman and late-arrival Victor Hedman before ripping an ice-hugging bullet between the pads of Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Sid’s sensational tally stunned the Lightning and provided his team with a huge lift going into the dressing room—not to mention a 3-0 lead. The Pens would need every inch of that cushion before prevailing, 5-2, in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to stave off elimination.

Maligned, along with Evgeni Malkin and other members of the Pens’ glitzy core for past playoff failures, Crosby produced a big-game effort. A gritty, Steve Yzerman-type effort. One worthy of a two-time Hart Trophy winner.

Determined to lead by example, the Nova Scotia native busted his tail. At both ends of the ice. He dug in the corners. He took hits to make plays. At crunch time, he delivered.

Crosby had lots of help.

Phil Kessel continued to rise to the occasion on a big stage. Displaying remarkable hand-eye coordination, he swatted Sid’s bouncing, cross-ice feed past Vasilevskiy at 18:46 of the opening frame for the crucial first goal. Backing up his guarantee of victory, Malkin was a force, especially early on. “Geno” assisted on Kessel’s power-play marker.

Criticized for his undisciplined play of late, Kris Letang took a clever pass from resurgent Conor Sheary and lasered it past Vasilveskiy high to the stick side seven-plus minutes into the second period to provide some breathing room. “Tanger” finished a plus-2 on the night.

Matt Murray, yanked after yielding four goals in Game 4, returned to the Pens’ net with a purpose. The rookie goalie held the Bolts off the scoreboard until 5:30 of the final period, when Kessel inadvertently booted the puck past him. In all, the kid with the ice-water composure stopped 28 of 30 shots to outshine his more heralded counterpart.

“He doesn’t get rattled,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Murray. “If he lets a goal in, he just continues to compete. … Usually it takes years to acquire that, and to have it at such a young age is impressive.”

Olli Maatta? The youngster’s resembled the rookie phenom of two seasons ago since replacing Trevor Daley.

Let’s not forget Nick Bonino and Bryan Rust. A poor man’s Ron Francis, “Bones” assisted on Letang’s tally and scored an empty-netter while logging 19:52 of ice time—tops among black and gold forwards. The speedy Rust delivered the knockout punch with a stirring breakaway goal.

Truly, you could credit everyone. From the stars to the grinders to the no-name defense. The victory was a total team effort.

“I think everyone played great tonight,” Crosby said. “Everyone contributes in their own way.”

It all started with Sid.