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Crosby Makes Another Inspiring Effort
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Crosby Makes Another Inspiring Effort

After Sidney Crosby put up another inspired effort in Pittsburgh’s 3-1 win over Montreal on Saturday, Kris Letang started talking about how the captain was taking more shots… then grinned.

“I guess I’m glad he’s the mustache guy again,” Letang said. “This damn mustache turns him on.”

Crosby’s goal streak is correct to have It coincided with the start of Movember. He scored both goals in a 2-1 overtime victory over Anaheim on Thursday and tallied twice more tonight, giving Crosby the opportunity to score consecutive multi-goal goals for the seventh time in his career.

He also scored four consecutive team goals for the third time in his career (March 19-21, 2017; November 28-December 1, 2018).

Going back even further, Crosby also tied the most consecutive goals scored/assisted in his career, counting seven consecutive team goals dating back to Oct. 29 against Minnesota (three times, most recently in 2009-10). The last player to account for seven consecutive Penguins goals was Letang (7 from January 27-30, 2015).

After a relatively slow start to the year in terms of production (at least due to his incredibly high standards), Crosby found his offensive game with a vengeance. He currently has 14 points (5W-9A) in 13 games.

“I think inevitably he’s always been a very determined player,” Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “When he goes through some of the ups and downs of a season, as all players do, he has an uncanny ability to pull himself out of it.”

With the help of a beard trimmer and some hard work. Sullivan explained that even though Crosby was one of the greatest players of all time, he wanted to be coached, wanted feedback and “honestly wanted help.”

With Crosby having just one goal in his first 11 games and the Penguins mired in a winless 0-5-1 streak, Sullivan and his staff watched video clips together and talked through them, picking their spots with the captain. The biggest takeaway from this process for Crosby was trying to be in the right spots.

“Sometimes when you put pressure, you end up guessing and hesitating and pushing things, and eventually things snowball,” Crosby said. “I think I’m just thinking about getting back to being good positionally, just the basics… and then I trust the luck will come.”

He added that it certainly wouldn’t hurt to play on a line with Evgeni Malkin, who shares the team lead with Crosby with 14 points, and Rickard Rakell, who paces the Penguins with six goals.

“We create some looks, we have the puck, and I think that builds some confidence,” Crosby said. “They were incredible. “I think all of that combined with the way we play as a group, we defend better and it’s a lot more fun to play that way.”

Before tonight, the Penguins had scored at least three goals in each of their first 11 games. Sullivan’s message to the group was that they would not find a way out of this slump, they would defend their way out. The Penguins have scored just two goals in their last two games, both wins.

“It just goes over the basics,” Crosby said. “We’ve been discussing the same things for a while here, but we’ve just consolidated them and broken them down into really small things. All those little details contribute to winning hockey, and it’s nice to be rewarded for that. The more we do that and get rewarded, I think it’s good for us to see and feel that. Building “We’ll continue to do so, but we’ve definitely done a better job of tightening things up.”

Crosby also had praise for Alex Nedeljkovic, who was between the pipes in both wins, saying the netminder made some big saves for the Penguins.

“I thought I played well last week. But we weren’t making those extra saves for the players,” Nedeljkovic said. “I felt pretty much the same way the last two games. Maybe I made another save for them and you know what, they’re not really put off by me having to cover up some mistakes and stuff. So I think our game is in a pretty good place right now.”

Blake Lizotte completed the scoring for the first time as a penguin. He debuted Thursday after recovering from a concussion suffered in a Kraft Hockeyville preseason game.

The Penguins will have a day off on Sunday before flying to Long Island on Monday to begin a three-game road trip. They will face the Islanders, Hurricanes and Capitals.