Crosby Reaches Rarified Air, Penguins Snap Losing Skid Against Oilers With 5-3 Win

Coming into Thursday’s matchup, the Pittsburgh Penguins had dropped seven straight games against the Edmonton Oilers.

The Penguins came out swinging early in the game, they didn’t waiver – and they had a whole lot of help from their captain, who continues to reach some all-time great milestones.

Sidney Crosby led the way for his team with a goal and two assists, and the Penguins beat the Oilers, 5-3, to snap their four-game losing streak. Rickard Rakell opened the scoring early in the first period with his team-leading 21st goal of the season, and Bryan Rust and Kevin Hayes followed within the next seven minutes to put them up, 3-0, early in the game.

Leon Draisaitl scored to make it 3-1, but then the Penguins answered right back just a minute later. Crosby fed Rust in the offensive zone, and he made a nice pass to a rushing Drew O’Connor, who put it home.

And on the play, Crosby registered his second point of the game and the 1,642nd of his NHL career, surpassing Joe Sakic to take sole possession of ninth place on the NHL’s all-time scoring list.

His head coach, Mike Sullivan, is running out of words to describe the captain’s accomplishments.

“I’m running out of superlatives,” Sullivan said. “His body of work in the league, his legacy that has been built up to this point speaks for itself. He’s the consummate pro. He just represents our sport, the league, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in such a great way. He just carries himself with so much grace and humility, and integrity… and he’s a fierce competitor on the ice.”

He continued: “I think some of these milestones that he’s reaching right now, it’s hard for me to articulate what that means. The obvious thing is that he’s one of the greatest players of all time because there aren’t too many people that are in that conversation. I just think his longevity, his ability to continue to play at such an elite level for so long… there aren’t too many guys that have played in this league that have been able to do it.”

Crosby added a goal of his own on a power play in the second period – the seventh consecutive power play on home ice that the Penguins have scored on – and they were able to stave off a heavy assault by Edmonton later on. This was in large credit to goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, as he was able to stop 34 of Edmonton’s 36 shots in the final two periods, allowing only another goal to Draisaitl and a power play goal to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

“He was huge,” Rust said of Nedeljkovic. “He made really big saves. He controlled his rebounds really well. I think that helps us when we don’t give them second, third opportunities. I think, to have a performance like that just feeds throughout the lineup, and you saw we’re all there at the end, kind of just trying to battle our hearts out.”

Here are just a few other notes and observations from Thursday’s huge win:

– Make no mistake: Nedeljkovic was very, very good tonight.

Edmonton knew it. His teammates knew it. But Nedejkovic – also a consummate pro – couldn’t help but give credit to a little bit of puck luck and still wish he could’ve stopped a few more.

“I just got lucky they were hitting me tonight, I don’t know,” Nedeljkovic said. “They made a few good plays East-West tonight and put it in the back of the net, so I was happy to be able to get a couple of them. You’d like to maybe be a little bit more square and centered on some of those plays, but they’re good players over there. They’ve got a lot of patience, and they’ll make plays at the last second. It’s hard to keep up, but you do your best to try to make them miss as much as you can.”

The goaltending situation will be one to watch in the coming weeks. With the Mar. 7 NHL trade deadline approaching – and the Penguins having goaltending depth in their system – it will be interesting to see who gets the bulk of starts.

Sullivan has always stressed that it’s about performance, and with the Penguins in a playoff race, I have no doubt that it is. But if Nedeljkovic continues to play well and get the bulk of the starts, his value probably won’t be higher than it is right before the deadline.

Definitely a situation to keep an eye on.

– That was an incredible first period from the Penguins.

They are aware of how much they struggle against this team. Even the Oilers are aware of how much the Penguins struggle against them.

“Yeah, I’m sure they’re not happy about it,” Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “Everyone’s always aware of stats like that, and when a team’s got your number for a while, you’ve always got a little extra bite in your game coming into it, for sure. So, it was probably a bit of that that led to their good start.”

The Penguins had a 14-7 advantage in shots during the first period, and they scored four goals. They were beating the notoriously fast Oilers to pucks and winning battles along the walls. They were getting to goaltender Stuart Skinner early.

They still need to find a way to play a full 60 minutes, as they only had five shots to the Oilers’ 20 in the second period. But their defense and goaltending found a way to shut Edmonton down in the third period when it mattered, and they got the win because of it.

A very big win against a very good team for the Penguins – and a team that has given them fits for years now.

– This is actually the first time I’ve had the chance to see Connor McDavid play in person. And, man, is he a treat to watch.

Draisaitl, obviously, isn’t a slouch, either. He has one of the best one-timers I’ve ever seen, and I think he may be the only player in the league who is a better passer than Crosby. But McDavid’s speed and vision just blows you away. He had three assists tonight, and every single one of them was well-earned.

He’s a dangerous player in the offensive zone, and like Ned said, your best hope of stopping him is hoping that you can make him miss. But he draws so much attention to himself that he forces teams to leave players like Draisaitl open – who doesn’t miss very often.

What a player.

– I think Anthony Beauvillier played a nice game tonight. He didn’t register any points, but he had several chances and was making things happen around the net.

He’s probably one of the first players to come out of the lineup when Evgeni Malkin and Philip Tomasino return. But I’m not sure he should be. He is a good forechecker, he has speed, and he’s good along the walls and at the net-front. He was even getting a bit chippy tonight, too.

I’d give him more leeway, especially as a UFA with the trade deadline coming up.

– Speaking of chippy, Owen Pickering absolutely leveled Oilers forward Mattias Janmark in the neutral zone – right in front of the benches – during the third period.

It deserved a small note in this piece, because, what a hit that was. It was a perfect example of Pickering using his 6-foot-5 frame in a way we haven’t quite seen much of yet. I thought he played a solid game otherwise, too.

– Erik Karlsson had another good night – registering another assist for his 12th point in 11 games – and he’s still killing penalties. He even boxed someone out on the kill tonight.

This is fascinating, and I will continue to monitor it.

– It’s nice to see Hayes score again. That’s his second goal in four games since his return from being a healthy scratch, and he doesn’t look out of place at all as this team’s third-line center so far.

Jesse Puljujarvi forced an offensive zone turnover, and he got the puck to Drew O’Connor, who fed Hayes in front of the net. I’ve really been liking this line for the past two games, and I think it’s something that should stick.

– As for something that shouldn’t stick? I think it’s time for Matt Nieto to see the press box.

Nieto was good on the penalty kill to start his season. But, with the PK mired in a string of games where they’ve allowed seven goals in the seven games since the holiday break – and Nieto doing himself no favors with some missed clears and misreads on these attempted kills – there’s not really any good reason to keep him in the lineup over guys like Hayes, Puljujarvi, and Beauvillier.

I’m still not entirely convinced Noel Acciari should be an odd-man out. The Penguins need players like him in their lineup. But if these guys aren’t getting half the job that they’re supposed to be doing done, it might be time to consider a fourth line that’s built a bit differently – especially since the Penguins have a few other options for the penalty kill.

– As I said before, this was a massive win for the Penguins.

With a win by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, they do remain in a tie with them for the second wild card spot. However, the Ottawa Senators lost – and the Penguins now find themselves five points ahead of them.

They play Ottawa on Saturday, which is a huge game for that reason. They can create even more separation. Then, they play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, who have been going back and forth with the Boston Bruins for the first Wild Card spot.

The Penguins need two clean points against Ottawa, and it’d be nice to, at least, squeeze out one point against Tampa. They need to get as many points as they can right now without surrendering any additional ones past regulation.