In a career that never ceases to register a new milestone or achievement, Sidney Crosby reached another marker that carries significance unlike any other Thursday.
For Crosby or for anyone else in a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey.
Stepping onto the ice of PPG Paints Arena, Crosby began his 18th campaign with the Penguins, eclipsing a center by the name of Mario Lemieux for the most seasons of service with the franchise.
Crosby, never one to celebrate himself, opted to point out his good fortune.
“I don’t think about it a whole lot, to be honest with you,” said Crosby, who succeeded Lemieux as captain a decade and a half ago. “I feel like it’s a privilege every year you can play in the NHL.”
On Thursday, what Crosby and company unleashed on the Arizona Coyotes didn’t feel like a privilege.
It was more akin to punishment.
Crosby recorded three points (one goal, two assists) and led his team to a 6-2 defeat of one of the NHL’s most woebegone franchises.
Even against an underwhelming foe, Crosby treated his 1,109th career game with the same level of intensity that he has expended on most of the previous 1,108.
“I’ve been here long enough to know that’s just how he’s wired,” said forward Bryan Rust, Crosby’s teammate for parts of nine seasons. “He’s an unbelievable player and unbelievable leader. That’s just part of it.”
Crosby opened the scoring only 1 minute, 22 seconds into regulation. Chasing down an errant puck in the right corner, Penguins forward Jake Guentzel claimed possession in front of Coyotes defenseman J.J. Moser then flicked a backhanded pass to the slot for Crosby, who buried a forehand shot through the five hole of helpless goaltender Karel Vejmelka. Guentzel and defenseman Kris Letang had assists.
That score was another milestone for Crosby as it was the first time he had recorded the Penguins’ first goal of a season.
“Took me a while,” Crosby quipped.
Little time was required to make it a 2-0 contest as forward Jason Zucker got in on the act at 4:22 of the first period.
Just after a power-play opportunity expired, Penguins forward Danton Heinen forced Coyotes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere into a turnover in Arizona’s left corner. Eventually, Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry, in his first game with the team, corralled the puck at the left point of the offensive zone and slid a pass up the near boards for Heinen, who then fed the puck to above the left circle, where Zucker boomed a one-timer past Vejmelka’s blocker on the far side. Penguins forward Jeff Carter supplied an effective screen on the sequence. Heinen and Petry netted assists.
“My only goal is to make sure it’s harder than Guentzel’s,” Zucker joked in reference to the velocity of his shot. “We’re going to have to look … and see whose was harder.”
Crosby and Guentzel connected again at 5:10 of the opening frame on a power-play score. Settling a puck above the right circle of the offensive zone, Crosby zipped a pass to Rust low in the left circle. Turning to the net, Rust elevated a forehand pass to the right of the crease into the skates of Guentzel, who was able to convert the choppy sequence into a forehand shot that beat Vejmelka’s blocker on the near side. Rust and Guentzel claimed assists.
A power-play score got the Coyotes on the scoreboard at 16:10 of the second period. From the Penguins’ right circle, Coyotes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere slipped a seam pass to the slot for Coyotes forward Nick Ritchie, who clunked a wrister off the right post and past goaltender Tristan Jarry’s blocker.
Forward Evgeni Malkin, a mere 17 years into his tenure with the Penguins, restored a three-goal lead at 19:11 of the middle frame with a power-play score. From the left of the Coyotes’ crease, Malkin shoved a backhand pass to the right circle for Crosby, who swiped a one-timer that was rejected by Vejmelka. The rebound hopped to the slot, where Malkin was able to clean it up with a backhander beyond the reach of Vejmelka’s right skate. Crosby and Letang claimed assists.
Ritchie scored another power-play goal at 4:46 of the third period. Faking a one-timer from the right wing of the offensive zone, Gostisbehere slipped a pass to the slot for Ritchie, who deked Jarry out of position and deposited an easy forehand shot into the cage. Gostisbehere and Moser had assists.
The Penguins’ penalty kill finished the game 4 for 6 to some dismay for coach Mike Sullivan.
“Our penalty kill needs to be better,” Sullivan said. “I’m probably stating the obvious. We gave up two goals on our penalty kill the same exact way. That’s an area where we know we can get better. We’ve got some new guys on our kill that aren’t accustomed to killing the way we kill. There’s some habits there that we’re going to have to instill so that we’re predictable for one another. I thought we got caught in between on a couple of them. They ended up finding that open man in the slot. That’s an area that we know we can get better.”
The Penguins’ secondary scorers capped the game’s offensive output.
Rust made it a 5-2 contest at 15:01 of the final period. Dashing from the right circle of the offensive zone to the slot, Malkin fed a pass to Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson, low to the left of the crease. Pettersson jabbed the puck on net only to be denied by Vejmelka. As a furious scramble for the rebound ensued, Rust whacked at the puck, pushing it into the net. Zucker and Pettersson had assists.
Forward Kasperi Kapanen found the net only 2:36 later. After a turnover at the Penguins’ blue line by Coyotes forward Jack McBain, Kapanen claimed possession and fed a pass to Heinen, generating a two-on-one rush against Gostisbehere. Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Heinen drew in Gostisbehere and threaded a cross-ice pass to the right circle, where Kapanen lifted a wrister under Vejmelka’s left armpit and into the cage. Heinen and Carter claimed assists.
Jarry made 26 saves on 28 shots in the victory. Only four of those shots came in the first period, offering something of an impediment for Jarry.
“Those types of games, they present a unique challenge for goaltenders where you don’t see the puck for a while then you get a flurry,” Sullivan said. “It’s going to test their discipline of focus in just making sure they stay locked in when they’re not seeing a whole lot of pucks. Tristan did that. He made some big saves, especially in the second period.”
Jarry saw 14 and 10 shots in the second and third periods, respectively.
The Penguins, in contrast, put 53 shots on a beleaguered Vejmelka.
“We were just playing on our toes,” Crosby said. “First game of the year and at home, I think guys were excited to get going. You could tell we had a lot of jump.
“We had some good looks and buried them.”
The Penguins, led by their captain, buried the Coyotes.
“With the caliber of player that he is, he’s obviously done those things for a reason,” Petry said. “He’s a guy that shows up every night. He’s the leader of this team, and he’s a guy that leads by example. To show up day in and day out is huge.”
Notes:
• Malkin took most of the Penguins’ faceoffs for the first power-play unit and was 4 for 6 (67%) in such draws. Crosby, typically one of the NHL’s top faceoff specialists, did not take any.
Sullivan was asked why Malkin, who has never been particularly prolific in any faceoff scenario, was deployed so often in that capacity.
“We leave that up to (the players) on who they think is winning the faceoffs and where they’re comfortable,” Sullivan said. “Sid, as you know, usually takes most of them. Tonight, (Malkin) was hot in the faceoff circle. … We leave that up to them.”
As it was, the Penguins were 2 for 5 on the power play.
• In addition to Petry, forward Ryan Poehling and defenseman Jan Rutta made their Penguins debuts.
• Forward Josh Archibald, who rejoined the Penguins after leaving via trade in December of 2017, became the 29th player to wear No. 15 for the franchise. His predecessors:
Bob Dillabough, Billy Harris, George Swarbrick, Steve Cardwell, Lowell MacDonald, Yvon Labre, Brian McKenzie, Rick Kessell, Bob McManama, Stan Gilbertson, Pat Boutette, Gary Rissling, Randy Cunneyworth, Dave Capuano, Doug Smith, Randy Gilhen, Shawn McEachern, Dmitri Mironov, Josef Beranek, Robert Dome, Roman Simicek, Wayne Primeau, Brian Holzinger, Niklas Nordgren, Michael Zigomanis, Dustin Jeffrey, Tanner Glass, Riley Sheahan
• Archibald wore No. 45 in his previous stint with the Penguins.
• Poehling became the 23rd player to wear No. 25 for the Penguins. His predecessors:
Bill Speer, Robin Burns, John Stewart, Darryl Edestrand, Nick Beverly, Dennis Owchar, Greg Redquest, Tom Cassidy, Tom Price, Randy Carlyle, Kevin McCarthy, Ted Nolan, Norm Schmidt, Alek Stojanov, Dan Kesa, Jeff Norton, Kevin Stevens, Marc Bergevin, Maxime Talbot, Eric Tangradi, Andrew Ebbett, Tom Sestito
• Petry became the 31st player to wear No. 26 for the Penguins. His predecessors:
Jim Morrison, Dunc McCallum, Mike McMahon, Syl Apps, Pete Mahovlich, Orest Kindrachuk, Paul Mulvey, Steve Gatzos, Troy Loney, Ted Bulley, Wayne Babych, Mike Blaisdell, Mark Kachowski, Mike Stapleton, Richard Park, Dave McLlwain, Petr Klima, Darius Kasparaitis, Garry Valk, Frantisek Kucera, Kent Manderville, Landon Wilson, Ronald Petrovicky, Ruslan Fedotenko, Eric Tangradi, Steve Sullivan, Mark Arcobello, Daniel Winnik, Andrew Agozzino
• Rutta became the ninth player to wear No. 44 for the Penguins. His predecessors:
Todd Nelson, Drake Berehowsky, Ed Patterson, Rob Brown, Stephane Richer, Brooks Orpik, Taylor Chorney, Erik Gudbranson
• Petry, a native of Ann Arbor, Mich., played in his 804th career game. It was his first with an American team. The first 295 were with the Edmonton Oilers. The middle 508 were with the Montreal Canadiens.
• Rutta’s presence maintained a streak for the Penguins in having at least one Czech on the roster every season since Jaromir Jagr’s rookie campaign of 1990-91:
Jan Rutta has maintained the Penguins' streak of having at least one Czech on the roster every season since Jaromir Jagr's rookie year: pic.twitter.com/QHTzXcqMr1
— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) October 14, 2022
• Guentzel (343 points) surpassed Robby — not Rob — Brown (342) for 19th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.
• Crosby (1,412 points) surpassed forwards Alex Ovechkin (1,410) and Dale Hawerchuk (1,409) for 20th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.
• With forward Evan Rodrigues and his 82 consecutive games departing as an unrestricted free agent this past offseason, Letang became the Penguins’ new “iron man” with 75 consecutive games.
• The Penguins scratched forward Teddy Blueger (undisclosed injury) and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel (healthy).
• Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz left the game in the first period due to an undisclosed injury. Last season, Schmaltz was the Coyotes’ second-leading scorer with 59 points (28 goals, 35 assists) in 63 games.
