Crosby passes test in first trip to Stanley Cup finals
For almost two months, Sidney Crosby has trudged to a podium to talk to reporters at least once a day, twice on game days. But after the Pittsburgh Penguins were denied in their last-second bid to tie Game 6, losing 3-2 to the Detroit Red Wings, Crosby remained slumped in his dressing room stall.
That Crosby had nothing more to give, either on the ice or to reporters, speaks volumes about his performance, not just in his first Stanley Cup finals, but throughout the playoffs.
In time, perhaps, Crosby’s first Stanley Cup finals will come into greater focus the fact that he finished tied for the playoffs scoring lead with Conn Smythe Trophy winner Henrik Zetterberg, both of whom had 27 points, and led a young team to within two wins of a Stanley Cup championship before his 21st birthday.
In terms of level of play, one could hardly expect anything more from Crosby, whose penchant for producing at the most important times continued throughout the playoffs. In the finals series, where top players like Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Ryan Malone seemed to buckle under the pressure, Crosby finished with six points in six games. He added another assist Wednesday night on a power-play goal by Malkin. It was Malkin’s first point of the series.
He also took a whopper hit on Wednesday from Brad Stuart seconds after he’d fallen and was just getting to his skates. The hit left Crosby hunched over in pain. Still, he was among the most dogged of forecheckers for the rest of the evening and was in on the Penguins’ final, desperate bid to tie the game.
Crosby reached the final round in just his third season, and he did it after missing 28 games midway through the season with a high-ankle sprain.
One of the urban legends surrounding the 1983 Stanley Cup finals is the story of when the Oilers went by the victorious Islanders dressing room and saw more relief than celebration. The Islanders looked like they’d been through a war and the Oilers hadn’t. Gretzky and Co. took that to heart and said, essentially, “That’s what we have to do to win.”
Tags: 21st birthday, amp, ankle sprain, conn smythe, conn smythe trophy, conn smythe trophy winner, cup champion, detroit red wings, dressing room, evgeni malkin, first trip, game, game days, games, gretzky, henrik zetterberg, jordan staal, mance, pittsburgh penguins, ryan malone, sidney crosby, six games, stanley cup championship, stanley cup finals, Trip, trip to, urban legends, whopper
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Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 6:00 pm under