The Sidney Crosby Hatrick: Pens even the Series

Sidney Crosby ©Stephanie Cohen/THW

18 seconds into a game 2 that featured the Ottawa Senators and defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins, it looked like the nightmare would continue for goalie Marc Andre Fleury. The fans hadn’t sat down yet as Peter Regin sped up the wing and put one behind Fleury to give the Sens a 1-0 lead. They came into the game leading the series 1-0 and would have loved to go home with a 2-0 series stranglehold. But the Pens would have none of that, particularly captain Sidney Crosby. Sometimes, broadcasters describe a situation where a player “puts a team on his back” and leads them to victory. This game was case in point. About 8 minutes after the Regin goal, Crosby swept home a rebound to tie the game at 1. The Penguins knew very well what would happen if they lost this game. Although going down 2 games to none in the playoffs was not something new to them, this series was vastly different. Twice on their way to winning cup last year, the Pens went down early by 2 games, first to the Caps and then to the Red Wings. But in those two series, the Pens got to come home for games 3 and 4. This time, they would have had to walk into Ottawa staring into a deep 2 game hole.

Luckily though, Sidney Crosby proved why he is a big game player. After Crosbys goal, both teams began firing blanks, but it wasn’t till the middle of the third period that Sid came alive. The Sens fired a shot that beat Marc Andre Fleury, and as it fluttered near the goal line about to trickle in, Crosby made a diving save to sweep the puck out of danger. Then, his true brilliance was on display. Words can’t really do justice, so here’s a look at the play. Basically, Crosby deaked and dangeled againt Jason Spezza for about 14 seconds before passing from his knees to Kris Letang who fired the puck home to give the Pens a 2-1 lead, which would stand up as the final score. Ottawa Coach Cory Clouston said after the game that Crosby was impossible to stop, espeicially every night.

Could this be the beginning of the Pens domination of the series? Maybe, but maybe not, as the Sens have hung with them through both games, being dominating themselves at times. As the series shifts to Ottawa for games 3 and 4, it really is anybody’s guess which team will be on top when they head back to Pittsburgh. Or maybe the series will continue to be tied. Either way, fans and probably the whole Penguins organization are thrilled last night wasn’t Mellon Arena’s last game. And it’s all thanks to Sidney Crosby.

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