We are one win away from having the first back-to-back Stanley Cup champion since the 1998 Detroit Red Wings. The Pittsburgh Penguins blew the doors off the Nashville Predators in a 6-0 victory in Game 5. It was evident on Sidney Crosby’s first shift that he was going to have something to say about the outcome of this game. He did. This was the Sidney Crosby game for a multitude of reasons.
At 29 years of age and in the high leverage situation of a Stanley Cup Final Game 5, Sidney Crosby treated the hockey world to a vintage performance that included all the things that make him who he is. Depending on your own personal perception of Crosby he could be cast as an amazing hero or a detestable villain. In either scenario, he comes out the winner. It was his night after all.
As the game evolved Crosby continued to make play after play that combined brute force with skillful brilliance in a way that only peak Crosby is capable of. This felt like watching Sid at his apex. An apex that was stolen from him in the 2010-11 season due to a concussion. This is what Sidney Crosby used to look like on a nightly basis. It's just that he never had the stage of a Stanley Cup Final to do it when his powers were at their peak.
Remember when Sidney Crosby would take the puck in the neutral zone and the probable outcome was a high-danger scoring chance? I do. If you don’t remember, it is the same exact feeling we get now when watching Connor McDavid when he gets a puck in stride. It is something that hasn’t disappeared from Crosby’s game, but it isn’t nearly as frequent as it used to be. We were given a great flashback on Crosby’s very first shift of the game.
His stickhandling is in concert with his edgework, and while elegant, it is a straight power move. As soon as he gets body position with his hips it is game over for a defender. Even as Crosby approaches 30 years of age this move is just as effective as it was when he was 24. He didn’t score, but he drew a penalty. It was a penalty the Penguins cashed in on to take a 1-0 lead. We hadn't even hit the two-minute mark of the game yet. The Penguins never looked back. Sidney Crosby had the primary assist on Justin Schultz’s slapshot goal from the point.
Mike Sullivan did a great thing when he reunited Sidney Crosby with Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary. Earlier in the year when this line got buzzing in the offensive zone it was a clinic on cycling the puck and creating time and space. Each member of this line is like a shark that smells blood in the water when they are on top of their games. Even when a pass doesn’t connect one of the other two players will track the loose puck like a hound that hasn’t been fed in days. The sequence on the Penguins fourth goal was everything beautiful about this trio.
It wouldn’t be a vintage Sidney Crosby game without a ludicrous highlight resulting from him using his backhand.
It also wouldn't be a vintage Crosby game if he didn't own the wall while combining his creativity and strength to facilitate success for another teammate. He is the best grinder in league history after all. The Penguins fifth goal highlighted this
Everything that makes Sidney Crosby the best player on the planet was on display last night. The greatest playmaker of his era showed off his versatility with each of his game high three assists.
Those were the heroic examples of Sidney Crosby’s game. There is a legitimate villain section as well. No better example than when he and PK Subban got tangled up behind the net
Here’s what should have happened. Crosby should have been given a double rough and PK Subban should have received a single minor for holding resulting in a Predators power play. That didn’t happen. They each received a roughing minor. Why? You know why. PK Subban knows why and even said so
"It's hockey, man"
This is the league the NHL wants. This is a clear case of a dysfunctional family. You have the abuser of the family (NHL front office) that creates a constant flux of stress and turmoil for the other members of the family. It is a barrage of misguided decisions that lead to a toxic environment and nobody intervening to help fix it.
You have the enabler of the family (referees) that continue to look the other way when the parent (NHL) is acting a fool. Instead of taking action or speaking out they sit idly and literally watch the abuse play out.
It’s OK, things aren’t THAT bad.
That’s just a hockey play.
It was just a one-time thing, it won’t happen again
It's not a big deal, nobody got hurt.
The excuses pile up and the abuse goes unchecked.
The children in a dysfunctional family are left to response to abuse in their own unique ways. What they grow up with is their normalcy. If their parents think it's OK, it must be OK, right? As a result you have some of the kids (players) acting out as rebels and thus become a scapegoat for a situation that is not a creation of their own. We demonize and bemoan the players at every turn for their actions, but the people that matter never point the finger at the actual abuser and thus the abuse cycle continues. Sometimes children will be children.
It wouldn't be "The Sidney Crosby Game" if there wasn't a little bit of complaining thrown into the mix. The Penguins Captain was furious with a non-call where Olli Maatta was two-handed by a Predators defender. Crosby attempted to squirt a water bottle in the referees general direction and instead threw it on the ice in a tantrum gone wrong.
Sidney Crosby is an intensely emotional player even if his robotic personality off the ice doesn't speak to it.
They would have a leadership award named after Sidney Crosby if he played in the 1980's. I mean, that exact award actually exists and it is named after Mark Messier. A player who was guilty of way worse than whatever Crosby's transgressions are. Messier's behavior is canonized by the league in the form of a leadership award and we are going to blame players for acting like... Mark Messier? Weird dynamic we have on our hands here in 2017.
Here's the reality of the situation. It's wrong when bad things happens to Sidney Crosby. It’s wrong when Sidney Crosby does bad things to somebody else. The players are never going to respect each other or solve this on their own. They believe they are acting within the accepted parameters of their crazy ass family.
Sometimes it takes a long time for an abuser to admit they have a problem. It can take years before they head for treatment and seek the help of professionals. The treatment center in this abusive family is going to be the concussion lawsuit. The lawsuit is destined to be the moment when the light bulb finally comes on, but not before all the damage has been done. Then and only then will the NHL start to pick through the debris of a disaster they created and change their ways. It will finally end the abuse to their other family members. However, it will not erase the suffering and fallout that is yet to come with brain injury and CTE.
For now Sidney Crosby can be the greatest anti-hero in the NHL. He's on the ultimate stage where he is able to both flash his genius ability, and cross the imaginary lines that his league has never set.
What you saw last night was the Sidney Crosby Game in all of its glory and only Crosby himself could own the stage like he did. A legacy secured.
****
This was a Sidney Crosby column, but I couldn't ignore one of the greatest rushes by a defenseman in playoff history.
Kris Let... wait he can't even play for a few more months. Justin Schult... no? Trevor Da... not him, huh. RON HAINSEY! Yes, that Ron Hainsey!
Ron Hainsey's end to end domination was dripping in perfection. First we have a player who has been legitimately maligned for questionable play as the centerpiece of the play.
That player then does something completely out of their skill set by pulling off a Mario Lemieux cutback move that not only leaves two players in his wake, but they actually collide with one another and wipe each other out!
One of the Predators that was made to look foolish by that absurd cutback move was none other than James Neal.
The play also involved Evgeni Malkin threading a sublime pass through the skates of a Nashville defender for Hainsey to receive his tap-in gimme goal. The defender? Nashville's villain, PK Subban.
Everything about the play was amazing and unexpected (well maybe not the Malkin part).
Nobody will ever take away that legendary rush from Ron Hainsey. It was one for the ages.
Thanks for reading!
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