Crosby “sizzles,” Penguins earn second straight win

On a night that marked another milestone for the Pittsburgh Penguins, their best player – for the second consecutive match – entered the clutch.

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Captain Sidney Crosby scored two goals for the second straight game, leading the Penguins to a victory over the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, and securing a victory for Defender Kris Letang’s 1,100th game.

Forward Blake Lizotte, playing his second game in a Penguins uniform after missing the team’s first 10 games with a concussion, added an empty-net goal in the end to seal the lead. ‘affair. Goalkeeper Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves on 26 Montreal shots.

Here are some thoughts and observations from Saturday’s game:

– Crosby’s first shot was beautiful, and it’s nice to see the captain warming up over these last two games. But Rickard Rakell deserves a lot of credit for making this game possible.

The puck was thrown behind and around Montreal goaltender Sam Montembault, and Rakell rushed to the corner and won a puck battle along the boards. He then turned and fired a pass through Alex Newhook’s legs and onto Crosby’s stick.

Just an exceptional example of choppy, solid board gaming from Rakell. He wins a lot of puck battles and has the ability to create “something out of nothing,” as head coach Mike Sullivan said. The acceleration and speed training he did over the summer also paid off here.

Crosby also praised his teammate.

“‘Raks’ is really strong with the puck,” Crosby said. “On this play, he strips the guy, and I thought he did a great job of finding those weak spots to take shots and use his shot that way, but also, he was very strong with the pucks, he kept them, and making plays We do a good job of reading each other and generating good looks through that.

I feel like I’m repeating myself, but Rakell has been very, very good for the Penguins this season.

-As for Crosby, I’m not sure there’s much else to say at this point. He has seven points in his last three games. He accounted for all seven goals before Lizotte’s empty-netter, and he scored their last four goals before that.

He’s just a man on a mission right now. He was spectacular and made his slow start seem like a distant memory. And it’s no coincidence that the Penguins’ other two best offensive players this season, Evgeni Malkin and Rakell, have been alongside him to help him get going.

I was skeptical as to whether the top line loading was going to work or not. But, man, has it worked so far. It’s certainly not sustainable, especially against the best teams in the league.

But, boy, is it fun watching them dominate games right now?

– Overall, I liked Valtteri Puustinen’s game so far. But I noticed tonight that he was outmatched physically and lost some key battles with the puck in the defensive zone.

He had a few chances in the offensive zone, so maybe that’s not too hard to figure out. Just an observation.

– Although the Penguins controlled the game for the most part, there was an element of carelessness in this game on both ends, especially in the neutral zone.

I don’t know if the ice was bad or if the games just weren’t connecting. But there were a ton of mishandled passes, players falling to the ice and pucks being blown away.

– Ryan Graves is playing with a lot of confidence right now. He is very committed.

He was all over the offensive zone tonight. He skated with determination and made plays to create chances. He was quite strong during the escape. He made some good plays breaking up passes and also cutting off angles in the defensive zone.

A really strong game from him. I like what I’m seeing from him this season, and Graves playing well is a very good thing for the Penguins. If Matt Grzelcyk continues to struggle, I can see him moving up the lineup soon. He deserved at least one chance during those minutes.

– Two other players who had solid games – even if they didn’t get on the scoresheet – were Michael Bunting and Antoine Beauvillier.

Bunting is physically engaged and is the scrappy, disruptive striker people are used to seeing. He gets into the dirty areas and wreaks havoc in front of the net, and that’s what he does when he’s at his best. He even got a healthy shot in a really bad spot from Arbor Xhekaj in front of the net after pushing Montembault for a rebound.

A goal is surely on the horizon for him soon. Sullivan said the same thing in his statement.

As for Beauvillier? He was strong on the forecheck all night, forced a few turnovers in the offensive zone and made a spectacular stick play early in the third period to deny ___ a scoring chance.

There was a wide open net to Nedeljkovic’s right and ___ headed toward the open cage. Beauvillier struck at the same time and knocked the puck out of harm’s way, into the air, before ___ could play on it.

Good stuff from both of them.

– Overall, the Penguins have played much tighter defensive games over the last two games. They gave up a few good chances towards the end of both games, but otherwise shut down Anaheim and Montreal for the better part of 60 minutes in each game.

It’s worth noting that the Penguins beat two of the league’s bottom players. They have struggled against the best teams in the league so far this season.

They have a tough divisional schedule this week, facing the New York Islanders (who, while unimpressive this season, have given the Penguins some beating) on ​​Tuesday before a back-to-back with the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals on Thursday and Friday.

Pittsburgh needs to find a way to use some of the momentum they’ve gained and play responsible defensive hockey against these teams – because they won’t miss if given “easy attack” opportunities.