Crosby and Company Come Alive

After Sidney Crosby, and the rest of the Penguins were nowhere to be found for the first two games of these Stanley Cup Finals, the young guns finally made an appearance. Sparked by Crosby’s two early goals and the gritty physical leadership of the crafty veteran Gary Roberts, the Penguins gave their hometown fans something to cheer about.

Detroit continued their torrid pace of secondary scoring, getting goals from both Johan Franzen and Mikael Samuelsson on the evening. However, it was the lack of finish by their top guns in Datsyuk and Zetterberg that spelled the difference in this game for Detroit.

One of my favorite playoff quotes held true tonight and it goes something like this:

” In the Stanley Cup Finals, the team whose best players are the best players will always win the game”

On this night, it was clearly Sidney Crosby who was the game’s best player as he came out with a vengeance in Game 3 after being called on the carpet for his illustrious performance thus far in the series.

Crosby’s Boring Interviews

Crosby pulled out every cliche in the book during his post-game interviews. Here is a sample of Crosby’s robotic interviewing skills.

We still have a ways to go,” Crosby said. “It is just going to get tougher from here.”

“We had to leave it all out there tonight,” [...] “It wasn’t easy, but it was a good one for us.”

“It wasn’t that the chances weren’t there, it’s just that finally one went in for us.

“It was a big game,” Crosby said. “Every one from here on is a must-win, so we have to be sure we play well.”

It’s no secret that I believe Crosby is good for the game and he is a well coached in his public address approach, but he has the personality of a dead moth.

I much prefer the broken english of Alexander Ovechkin, who was spotted during Game #3 speaking with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. When asked what he and Bettman were talking about, Ovechkin smiled and said:

“Raising the salary…getting more money”

Alexander then calmly continued by saying that he was really talking about the World Championships and life in general. At least he has a sense of humor.

On Malkin

Pierre Lebrun thought Malkin was “electric” in Game 3. I’m going to have to disagree with Pierre on this one. While Malkin was considerably better than he had been in the previous two games, it would be a stretch to call his performance “electric”. Lebrun point out not that Crosby carried the team on his back, which I will agree with (even though it was quite obvious). As much as I have said I am tired of all of the hype around Crosby, Sidney was by far the best player on the ice in this game.

Get Your Game 5 Tickets

Detroit fans, be sure to pick up your Stanley Cup Final tickets because Game 5 is coming your way and it should be a dandy!