It’s time for Sidney Crosby to throw on his cape and carry the Penguins to the playoffs

OTTAWA — Sidney Crosby sat quietly, his arms folded, in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ locker room on Tuesday evening at PPG Paints Arena.

He is aware of he hasn’t been at his finest since returning to the lineup per week in the past. He is aware of his group’s degree of play has all of the sudden dipped at the worst attainable time.

And he is aware of precisely what he should do.

Crosby stated all of the proper issues throughout our chat following Pittsburgh’s 6-2 loss to the Colorado Avalancheand each phrase certainly was honest. He stated it is up to him to lead the means. He stated he hasn’t been ok. He stated his group hasn’t been ok. It was the form of accountability and management we have come to anticipate from the best captain in hockey.

It was classic Crosby.

Now, it is time for classic Crosby to present up on the ice. Maybe it is an unfair ask of a 38-year-old getting back from a torn MCL, however salvaging this season may rely on it.

The Penguins all of the sudden have many issues.

Goaltenders Arturs Silovs and Stuart Skinner have been horribly subpar in current video games. While the Penguins collectively have not been good in entrance of them, the goaltending efficiency has dipped in a really massive means. Should the Penguins flip to Sergei Murashov? Probably. Will they? It’s tough to say. Will it make a distinction? It’s anyone’s guess. There is a way that the Penguins are damaged defensively proper now, that they are going to maintain permitting targets at a reasonably regular charge.

One means or the different, this wasn’t a group constructed to win 2-1 video games.

Other than the nice Erik Karlsson, everybody on the blue line is struggling.

And now, there are all of the sudden points amongst the ahead group that has carried the Penguins all season.

Evgeni Malkin was sensible in his return to the lineup from suspension final week in Denver. He was not good in his subsequent three video games. And now, he cannot keep wholesome.

Anthony Mantha is damage, too.

So is Blake Lizotte, who figures to miss the remainder of the common season with a damaged hand. The fan base appears in love with Elmer Soderblom, and whereas there’s potential there, the fourth line merely is not the identical with out Lizotte.

Justin Brazeau, so good in the season’s first half, has scored twice in his previous 19 video games.

For causes that defy rationalization, the Penguins are protecting Ville Koivunen in the NHL whereas Rutger McGroarty stays in Wilkes-Barre.

Yeah, there are issues. The Penguins nonetheless seem like an inexpensive guess to make the playoffs based mostly on the standings and their schedule — if they will survive the subsequent week, issues loosen up significantly down the stretch — however when you’ve been watching them play in current video games, likelihood is you are feeling in any other case.

Enter Crosby.

He hasn’t been horrible since returning to the lineup. Far from it. He’s produced at the least one level in every of his 4 video games again in the lineup, with 5 factors in all.

Crosby, nonetheless, hasn’t been himself. He’s looking for his recreation. He hasn’t been as dynamic as ordinary and hasn’t regarded particularly alert. This is all typical for him when he is in a funk. It occurs to him as a lot because it does to mere mortals.

The drawback is, he is not simply another participant. And these are critical occasions.

Expectations round the league have been extraordinarily low for the Penguins 5 months in the past, but they’ve loved a dream season, with a postseason berth now the clear objective. Reaching the playoffs for the first time in 4 years can be a giant deal on many ranges. It would reinvigorate a stagnant season ticket fan base. It would create a surge of curiosity in Pittsburgh that the Penguins have not loved in years. It would maybe persuade Crosby to signal one other contract, hanging round for some time longer below the perception that this group goes locations. It would give Malkin some ammunition for his chat with Kyle Dubas this summer time.

Missing the playoffs wouldn’t solely be a profound disappointment for the Penguins, however it will additionally drive the fan base — and Dubas — to confront some disagreeable realities.

Crosby can remove all of the considerations.

He practically pulled off a surprising feat two springs in the past when the Penguins, left for useless in the standings, turned stunningly sizzling down the stretch and practically reached the playoffs. Starting with the Penguins’ loss to Colorado on March 24, 2024, Crosby produced 9 targets and 25 factors in his last 13 video games of the season. He practically pulled off an surprising playoff run, however the Penguins fell painfully brief.

Fast-forward two years, and the Penguins are higher now than they have been then, and are literally in playoff place. They aren’t doing the chasing this time, however it most likely feels that means.

As destiny would have it, the Penguins misplaced to Colorado on March 24, 2026. When it occurred two years in the past, Crosby, ignited by a sniff of the postseason, took his recreation to a wholly totally different place.

It will not be straightforward this time. He is 2 years older, and whereas he is clearly wholesome sufficient to play, he should be working with some discomfort. The schedule is brutal for one other week. The Eastern Conference playoff race is suffocating.

It’s quite a bit.

We are on the verge of Crosby enduring the most irritating season of his life. He was three wins away from successful a 3rd gold medal in three Olympic appearances when Radko Gudas knocked him out of the quarterfinals. Crosby tried with all of his energy to play in the gold-medal recreation, however no physician would have cleared him to play. So he helplessly watched as Jack Hughes put a dent in the Twenty first-century Canadian dynasty that Crosby helped construct. He hasn’t talked a lot about how painfully irritating it should have been. There isn’t any query that it was torture, and there was cause to consider Canada would have gained that recreation Crosby performed; the concept of ​​him dropping his last Olympic recreation borderline amusing.

But he by no means bought the likelihood.

Will he get the alternative to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs once more? Only so a few years stay in his profession, and of specific significance to him is lacing up the skates in the playoffs with Malkin and Kris Letang, even when for one last time. It would imply every thing to him to hear the crowd roar at PPG Paints Arena whereas the Big Three take playoff ice.

Malkin is damage. Letang is floundering. The Penguins have given up 48 targets of their previous 11 video games. Their depth is fading due to accidents. The relentless pack of Eastern Conference contenders has no sympathy. And Crosby hasn’t regarded proper since returning to the lineup.

Captain Canada finds himself in the capital of his homeland tonight, in a constructing that has not often been sort to him. It’s not fairly must-win time, however it’s getting there.

Maybe Crosby’s teammates will discover their means, a lot as they’ve all season. Maybe they will fail, simply as they have been predicted earlier than the season.

Or perhaps Crosby will put them on his again, one final time.

He did not appear overwhelmed after the loss to Colorado, nor did he even appear aggravated. Rather, there was a laser focus on his face, one which hadn’t been evident since his return.

Crosby would certainly like extra time to discover his recreation following a month-long absence. He usually says that, as he ages, he performs higher when the schedule is busier. Long layoffs affect him greater than they used to.

One take a look at the standings, nonetheless, prohibits him from taking time to discover his recreation.

If Crosby is to get his postseason want — he is the one who needed to delay an entire rebuild to get again to the dance, and he is the one who smoked final 12 months as a result of Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals discovered a means to rebuild on the fly whereas the Penguins stayed at residence throughout the playoffs — then, pretty or not, he’ll doubtless want to carry them.

The diploma of problem is excessive. So are the stakes. Coming this far, solely to miss out on the postseason, can be a large blow to Crosby and the Penguins.

“I have to lead the way,” Crosby stated Tuesday evening.

With that, he marched out of the locker room with the look of a person on a mission.