Though unquestionably the best player in hockey for the better part of the last decade, it is easy to take Sidney Crosby for granted. The relative ease in which he scores points and dominates competition is something to behold, and the consistency in which he has done it not only makes him an all-time great in Penguins lure, but in the history of the National Hockey League.
This week, Crosby once again proved why he is the NHL’s best, and with it, earned the honor of Pittsburgh Sporting News Player of the Week.
The highlight of the week for Crosby came in the Penguins 6-1 shellacking of the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night. Crosby had five assists in less than two periods of play in the blowout win, and it was the third time in Crosby’s illustrious career he has accomplished that feat. For the season, Crosby has an NHL leading 24 points in 13 games played, and his 1.85 points per game is currently the best of his 10-year career.
Though it is early, Crosby is on pace to statistically have his best season ever. In fact, if Crosby is able to keep up the production, he could become only the 13th player in NHL history to average over 1.75 points per game for a season since 1918, joining the likes of Mike Bossy, Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. A healthy Crosby looks like a shoe in to break his season best point total of 120 points by a considerable margin.
Crosby’s dominating work helped the 10-2-1 Penguins to three more victories this week, pushing their division lead to three points over the New York Islanders. The Penguins are tied for the second most points in the Eastern Conference with the Montreal Canadiens with 21, and trail only the Tampa Bay Lightning who have 23. However the Penguins have played two fewer games thus far than both the Habs and Lightning.
Crosby will attempt to continue his tremendous early season start when the Penguins travel to New York to play the Rangers at Madison Square Garden at 7 PM.
Congrats to Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Sporting News Player of the Week.
