Crosby shows flashes of typical brilliance but defense wanes in loss to Bedard’s Blackhawks

Sidney Crosby may not know what rizz is but when he takes the ice, few players have more game than him.

During the marquee game of an opening night tripleheader, Crosby was marketed en masse as the reigning greybeard of the NHL, a 36-year-old operating as one of the faces of the league due to his seniority and resume whilst 18-year-old Chicago Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard lay in wait as the next heir apparent.

The NHL billed the clash between Crosby and Bedard as an individual matchup where the Penguins’ captain would instill lessons — figuratively and literally — in the Blackhawks’ center during his debut.

The game was scripted perfectly 40 minutes in. Bedard was a one-man shot parade, generating seven attempts — three on goal — during the first period, while Crosby and the Penguins worked metronomically through the contest. Bryan Rust’s opening goal provided Pittsburgh with a 1-0 lead entering the first intermission and soon thereafter, Crosby would showcase why some believe he could genuinely win the fourth Cup of his career this year.

Pittsburgh’s captain executed a perfect give-and-go with Jake Guentzel, whipping a cross-seam pass over to his longtime comrade. Crosby then shook off any defenders in his vicinity, received the puck back and fired home an insurance goal into the open cage. It was the textbook brilliance and navigation of space we’ve come to associate with Crosby’s career and a reminder that he’s still among the elite players.

As soon as Crosby scored, he took his proverbial foot off the gas and the rest of his team followed suit. Bedard gained the first point of his young NHL career after depositing a slick back pass to Alex Vlasic, whose rebound was turned in by Ryan Donato. Crosby was caught puck-watching, failing to assess the urgency of Vlasic’s drive and not signalling to his teammates that Donato was crashing the net unguarded for a tap-in.

Crosby and LeBron James are contemporaries more so than ever now. James, a singular athlete who may very well be the greatest basketball player ever, has been criticized for several years for playing lax defense during the regular season in an effort to conserve his energy for the playoffs. Hockey and basketball don’t always offer direct parallels but while Bedard and his less-heralded comrades — Cole Guttman and Jason Dickinson led the comeback — continued to charge forward, Crosby was defensively negligent and was on the ice for three of the four goals scored by the Blackhawks (the last of which was an empty-netter).

Dickinson’s go-ahead goal needed an element of luck and it came at Crosby’s expense.

Rust lackadaisically tried to walk through the Blackhawks’ defense, turned the puck over, and as the Blackhawks countered, Crosby hopped onto the ice, seemingly looking for his defensive assignment and crashing into Corey Perry. In doing so, it left Dickinson wide open and when Crosby submitted a tepid closeout, Perry’s shot ricocheted right into Dickinson’s path, where he immediately slammed the puck home. You could chalk it up to poor puck luck, but it could’ve been avoided with a more decisive read on No. 87’s part.

Crosby is still Bedard’s role model and for good reason. With three Stanley Cups to his name, arguably the most important goal in Canadian men’s hockey history and two generations inspired by his all-around sustained brilliance, Crosby is the hockey establishment’s ideal, holding onto this designation until Connor McDavid finally lifts the Cup. Be wary of sweeping declarations through a one-game sample but we got the 2023 Sidney Crosby experience for one night: moments of brilliance, punctuated by some routine energy conservation in the defensive zone, which portended some bad luck.

Crosby finished with a 26% share of the expected goals at 5-on-5 and the Penguins had a negative shot differential at 5-on-5 and in all situations during the game. You don’t need the stats to paint a picture of his overall game during opening night. Crosby’s highlight-reel goal was enough to show why he’s still among the game’s elite but it was Bedard’s night.

Chalking it up to effort level and tenacity are often dubious concepts in pro sports but sometimes it can all be so simple.