It's not always the goals. Sometimes it's the ... giveaways?
Yeah, with Sidney Crosby, even that can become praiseworthy.
Because as pretty as this sweeping breakaway backhander was through Alex Lyon's Fort Pitt Tunnel of a five-hole in the second period Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena ...
... I'd posit that the Penguins wouldn't have had the same chance to complete a 7-6 overtime victory over the Panthers, if their captain hadn't planted the puck on an opponent's blade precisely when and how he did.
With less than a couple minutes left in overtime, the stick of the Panthers' Brandon Montour clipped Jeff Petry in the face, prompting referee Wes McCauley to raise his right arm as he skated backward into the Pittsburgh zone. That's relevant because Crosby could see the delayed penalty in effect while controlling the puck and moving that same direction while being pursued by both Montour and Carter Verhaeghe.
At which point, Sid passed the puck right to Verhaeghe, who was visibly caught unaware judging by how he immediately went hot-potato with the thing in the very next instant:
I asked Sid about this afterward, and he actually let out a small smile in recalling it, a rare reaction from him to anything that he ever does well:
"I thought I saw his arm come up, so I wanted to make sure before I put it on his tape," Sid replied, referring first to McCauley, then to Verhaeghe. "But yeah, obviously, you've got to take advantage of that when you get the power play in overtime."
Narrator: They did ...
The Verhaeghe touch put the Penguins on the power play with 1:34 left in overtime, whereas every second that would've run off without a touch would've been one fewer second for the Panthers to kill. Now, McCauley could've chosen to blow his whistle over an unplayed puck, as Kris Letang would point out to me later, but there's no guarantee he would've.
Verhaeghe, who'd had an otherwise superb evening with two goals and relentless presence, was interviewed in the Florida locker room by Miami-area reporters, but this subject never arose.
