The Penguins captain, who’s made a habit out of batting pucks out of mid-air and into opposing teams’ nets in recent weeks, teed up another can’t-miss goal during Wednesday’s 7-0 blowout of the rival Flyers in Game 1 of their Stanley Cup playoff series, then tacked on two of the more boring variety (by his standards).
SN STAFF PLAYOFF PREDICTIONSEastern Conference | Western Conference | Stanley Cup
The first goal, scored 9:01 into the second period, put Pittsburgh ahead 5-0 and chased Flyers starter Brian Elliott from the game.
Elliott was making just his third start after returning from a monthlong injury absence. He faced 19 shots. Then it was Petr Mrazek’s turn to face the gauntlet, but he didn’t fare much better. Crosby put home a nifty rebound to make it 6-0 7:41 into the third period, then finished the natural hat trick three minutes later on a deflection to the top corner.
Tired of scoring goals like a normal human, this is just the latest display of Crosby’s mastery of the arts of hockey. Recall when he upstaged MLB’s opening day , swatting his own rebound past Keith Kinkaid for an overtime winner against the Devils. A week earlier, Crosby put on a veritable juggling act to score around Carey Price .
What kind of sorcery is this?
For the record, the triple brings Crosby’s playoff goal total to 60.
