Kovacevic: Even at 36, the great Sidney Crosby remains ... exactly that

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- “Eh, it’s three tap-ins," Bryan Rust would tell me. "It’s nice when you’ve got linemates like Jake Guentzel and I.”

With that, he'd give out on a grin beneath that bushy mustache, then cast a glance a couple stalls his left to see if the greatest hockey player of his generation had been paying attention. At which point Sidney Patrick Crosby cast a playful glance right back.

"Just kidding," Rust would respond, almost genuinely apologetic.

No, no, that's just awesome, I recalled thinking in the moment. Heck, If anything, keep it coming. If only because I can't be all alone in having long ago run out of serious superlatives aimed at piling on platitudes for Sid.

I mean, what does one say about the guy who's got everything?

Who, on this otherwise ordinary Tuesday night in mid-November in mid-Ohio against the most mid of opponents, made magic of so much more magnitude than merely pushing the Penguins past the Blue Jackets, 5-3, that it seemingly makes for a list that's double-digits deep?

• His 13th career hat trick, which at age 36 is ... wow unto itself:

NHL

• The second of those three goals representing the winner with 5:32 left in regulation

• The third of those goals, an empty-netter, tying the legitimately legendary Guy LaFleur at 560 and 27th on the NHL's all-time list

• An assist on an evening where his passing alone should've earned him a half-dozen or more

• His 38th four-point output

• His 13th game with a point out of the Penguins' first 14

• The extension of a nine-game points streak built on a peak-Sid-level seven goals, seven assists

• The ascent to within a point -- his season total's at 19 on 10 goals, nine assists through 14 games -- of the league's top 10 scorers ... at age 36

• A No. 1 ranking in the league with 16 even-strength points

• One of the hottest goal-scoring starts of his career, given that the only other season in which he opened with 10-plus through 14 games was 2016-17, when he had 14

From there, I could either have further fun and project out that Sid's on pace to finish with 58 goals and 111 points ... or I'll just leave the superlatives to others.

“He’s obviously playing great," Rust would tell me upon turning serious. "It’s fun when he’s on a roll like that. I think that just gets our whole line going, and gets our whole team going. He’s a guy who leads by example, and you could see it here.”

“We have a lot of guys who can be difference makers, and a lot of nights, it's going to be Sid,” Lars Eller would say. “He was that for us tonight.”

"He's flying right now," Erik Karlsson would say. "Just flying."

"He obviously had a pretty inspired effort," Mike Sullivan would say, his raised eyebrows and slight smile betraying his own challenge in lauding his captain's relentless excellence. "He's essential. I think his leadership manifests itself in so many ways. It's not just his voice in the locker room, but it's his example and how he plays. That might be the most powerful way he leads."

That's it. All I've got. End of column.

Oh, all right, let's have some fun with the winner.

But first ...

That's the first goal. Not much in which to delve here. When Sid's going like this, there's no aerial puck he doesn't think he can corral, and there's no severe-angle shot he won't seize for the element of surprise.

Then the assist ...

... as he'd hit Vinnie Hinostroza in the slot so sharply that few fourth-liners could take it in stride, but Guentzel cleaned it up, anyway.

And lastly, just to be complete ...

... that's the empty-netter, set up deftly by Rust with the backhand touch, followed by some proud-papa pats on Sid's helmet. 

Hey, maybe Rust was onto something with that above assessment, after all.

OK, to the big one, beginning with a refresher that the Penguins had just blown a lead in the third, three minutes after Karlsson's left-point blast had just put them ahead, and trail Sid all the way around the Columbus zone with the live look:

Note that Sid first offers an elegantly soft pass into the slot for Rust, but it eludes his blade and slides between his legs. And weigh, right then, that Sid could've won this one some other wonderful way.

Now, watch it again from the back:

Remember the Karlsson play I detailed in the column over the weekend?

And remember how Karlsson had told me he was sure that, if a Buffalo defender hadn't redirected that same shot, born of the same strategy, that "Sid would get that every time?"

Well, this was the very next time.

I brought up the Karlsson play with Sid:

“I think, with time, you get a feel for what guys like to do," Sid replied before citing Karlsson's extensive time as an opponent, whether in Ottawa or San Jose or international competition. "We played enough against each other. I think we know each other’s tendencies. So I think it’s just a matter of trying to see it the same way, and then the execution. It’s one thing to see it, but it’s another thing to execute on it. I’d love to connect on a few more of those.”

You'd better believe I brought up with Karlsson again, too.

"There it was. We did it," he'd fairly light up upon my approach. “So yeah, it was nice. I’ve been on the other side of that a lot of times. The first thing I told Sid, I said, ’I’ve seen that before. Just not on the good side of things.’ ”

I also brought it up with Jason Spezza, the Penguins' assistant GM and Karlsson's longtime teammate in Ottawa. He acknowledged having converted "a bunch of those" himself, but he also raised something else I hadn't previously put together.

"What makes it work is that Erik sells the shot," Spezza would tell me. "He gets everyone to position themselves for the shot."

So true. Thumb up and look again.

"That's a big part of it, of course," Karlsson would remark to Spezza's assessment. "But it's nice to have someone like Sid on the other end."

Uh-huh.

It's crazy, my friends. It really is. It's 2023. Eighteen years since Sid's 102-point rookie rollout. Fifteen years since his first Stanley Cup. Twelve years since he might've had his career cut short on that fateful night at Heinz Field. Eight and seven years since his second and third Cups. And this spectacularly story never stops adding ... not just chapters, but page-turning chapters.

And yet, having covered all of that plus his two Olympic gold medals in Vancouver and Sochi, the one constant in place, even more than the goals, the assists and all the individual honors ... is that this little yawner of a sequence in the third period might best define who he is:

To fully appreciate Sid, it's imperative to all-the-way grasp that he's all about winning. To see that he controls that faceoff, creates a chance for Rust, then races back to face Patrik Laine and steal the puck right back.

These Penguins have followed a 3-6 start with five wins in a row now, soaring from rock bottom in the East to an actual wild-card position. And they've done that in large part due to Sid's scoring but, arguably, even more because they've committed this month to a Sullivan-modified emphasis on staying "above the puck," as he likes to put it, in the neutral zone. It means less chasing of opponents and more confronting. And in turn, it means less odd-man breaks allowed.

It works because Sid does it and, thus, everyone else has no excuse. It works because he does it whether he's scoring or not.

That's who he is.

To wit, I asked Sid, in vain before I'd uttered a syllable, to expound on his own hot start.

“I think that, just with the start of the season and a long offseason, with every game, I think you feel more and more comfortable," he'd reply before stopping on a figurative dime and pivoting to his preferred subject matter. "And I think, as a team, I feel like we know what our game looks like. We’re getting to it a little bit more. So I think it takes the thought — whether you’re new here or you’ve played here for a long time — it takes the thought out of it a bit. It’s just nice to get out there and play on instincts, read plays, play off one another and not think about the system or what you've got to do too much. I think it’s coming. We’re getting to our game a lot more.”

As plural as ever.

Never take him for granted, Pittsburgh.

GETTY

Sidney Crosby scores the eventual winning goal in the third period Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at Nationwide Arena:

1. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
2. Erik Karlsson, Penguins D
3. Alexandre Texier, Blue Jackets LW

THE INJURIES

• Right winger Jeff Carter (upper body) participated in the morning skate here.

• Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic (lower body) is on long-term injured reserve and can't return until Nov. 19. He's resumed skating.

• Defenseman John Ludvig (concussion) is on long-term injured reserve and can't return until Nov. 19. He's resumed practicing with the team, albeit without contact.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell
Drew O'Connor-Lars Eller-Radim Zohorna
Matt Nieto-Noel Acciari-Vinnie Hinostroza

Ryan Graves-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-Chad Ruhwedel

And for Pascal Vincent's Blue Jackets:

Yegor Chinakhov-Boone Jenner-Patrik Laine
Dmitri Voronkov-Adam Fantilli-Kirill Marchenko
Johnny Gaudreau-Cole Sillinger-Emil Bemstrom
Alexandre Texier-Sean Kuraly-Justin Danforth

Zach Werenski-Erik Gudbranson
Ivan Provorov-Damon Severson
Jake Bean-David Jiricek

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE SCHEDULE

There'll be a practice Wednesday, 12 p.m., at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. The next night, it's the Devils, 7:08 p.m., at PPG Paints Arena. I've got the beat for eight straight days.

THE CONTENT

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