Penguins Ride the Sid ‘n’ Ned Train to 4-1 Victory over Blackhawks

Seven seconds into last night’s must-have 4-1 victory over the Blackhawks, Sidney Crosby ran towering 22-year-old defenseman Alex Vlasic into the end boards. Eight seconds later he tipped Marcus Pettersson’s long-range shot past Hawks goalie Arvid Söderblom to stake his team to a lead right out of the chute.

Does anyone lead by example better than Sid? I’ll go a step further. Is there a better player in any professional sport at age 36 than our captain?

I think not.

Thus inspired, the Penguins stretched their advantage to a pair 12 minutes later, thanks in no small part to a bit of largesse from Connor Bedard. Playing in his first game in five weeks after suffering a broken jaw, the Hawks’ phenom tried a dangerous (Penguin-esque?) cross-ice pass high in the attacking zone that was picked off by Drew O’Connor.

Turning on the jets, DOC set sail for the Chicago end before dishing the biscuit to Reilly Smith in the high slot. Smith swung around Bedard with a slick forehand-to-backhand maneuver and beat Söderblom high glove side for his 10^th goal of the season and a 2-0 Pens lead.

Skating with a multiple-goal lead for the first time since the eighth-grade picnic (or more precisely our win over the Jets nine days before) our guys seemed to ease up in the second period, usually our strongest, while the injury-plagued Hawks gathered steam. With Erik Karlsson flying the zone, Bedard alertly fed Philip Kurashev with a sharp diagonal pass to the spot EK65 so vigorously abandoned only seconds before. Easy-peasy goal for the Hawks at 8:22 to slice our lead to one.

When Colin White took a cross-checking penalty six minutes later? Yeah, I thought our guys were poised to self-destruct. Fortunately Alex Nedeljkovic, borderline brilliant all night long, made four big saves during the power play, including two on Bedard, to preserve our 2-1 edge.

Still, the game was very much up for grabs until 5:51 of the third period. In a sequence reminiscent of the one that led to our game-opening tally, Pettersson unleashed a drive from the left point that thudded off Söderblom’s pads and onto the stick of countryman Rickard Rakell. RikRak zipped the puck to Sid at the side of the net and No. 87 punched it home to give us a little breathing room.

Courtesy of a late penalty to Rakell, the Hawks mounted one last charge with their goalie pulled. Nedeljkovic slammed the door and Bryan Rust sank the equivalent of a 30-foot putt, splitting the cage with a length-of-the-ice empty netter to bag a huge (and desperately needed) two points for our Pens.

Puckpourri

It was a relatively low-event affair according to Natural Stat Trick. The Pens held serve in shot attempts (52-42), scoring chances (28-19) and high-danger chances (a whopping 16-5 advantage). Shots on goal were virtually even (28-27 in favor of the Hawks).

With his two goals, Sid rightfully earned top-star honors. My word, what a season he’s having. Thirty goals with 31 games to play. Even without sidekick Jake Guentzel, I think he’s a shoe-in for 40.

Rakell picked up two assists to earn the second star. Amazing how he springs to life skating next to Sid. Although it might be considered heresy in these parts, I’d be sorely tempted to keep the Rakell-Crosby-Rust line intact if and when Guentzel returns and give the latter a try next to Evgeni Malkin, who’s languished of late (one assist in five games) playing with a revolving door set of wingers.

One of the reasons we may need to replace Mike Sullivan. He’s too wedded to his favored combinations at times to try creative solutions. If Geno-Jake doesn’t work? Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

With four goals in five games, Rust is quietly heating up.

Good to see Smith pop his second goal in four games. Man, if we could just get Reilly going, it would be a huge boon to our struggling attack. Ditto O’Connor, who picked up his second helper in as many games following a seven-game points drought. Still love what he brings to the table.

Nedeljkovic was terrific, stopping 27 of 28 shots to run his record to 9-4-3. The studio analysts (unless it was Colby Armstrong) commented on how well Ned tracks the puck and reads the rush. Perhaps it’s time to split the goaltending chores down the middle or ride the hot hand. Especially since the Pens have little or no margin for error.

Speaking of records, we’re 7-1 in the second game of back-to-backs (3-4-1 on the front end). Surprising for an older bunch. Also perhaps a nod to Ned, who generally gets the follow-up game.

I’m more than a little surprised the Hawks didn’t go with veteran Petr Mrázek in goal instead of Söderblom. He owns us.

Call-ups Jonathan Gruden (one hit in 7:18 TOI) and Valtteri Puustinen (one shot in 12:44 TOI) dressed. Vinnie Hinostroza was a healthy scratch. That one surprises me. With his speed and versatility, I thought for sure he’d be a Sully guy.

Still think the Hawks have the best uniforms this side of Seattle.

On Deck

The Pens (24-20-7, 55 points) are off till Sunday, when we take on the slip-slidin’ Kings (25-16-10, 60 points). A game that more famously marks the return of black-and-gold legend Jaromír Jágr to the ‘Burgh to have his number retired.

IMHO, long overdue.

Zivio, Jágr, zivio!

Standings-wise, we’re a whopping 10 points behind third-place Philly (four games in hand) and a more manageable five points behind the Red Wings (two games in hand) in the chase for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot.