Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins have surprised everyone but themselves with playoff return
Sidney Crosby, his face cleanly shaven for now, settled into the bench inside the Pittsburgh Penguins dressing room on Thursday and pulled a black baseball cap over his head. For the first time in what felt like a long time, Crosby didn't have to spend part of a mid-April afternoon cleaning out his locker and answering questions about how another season got away from the Penguins or wonder what might lie ahead during another uncomfortably long summer. Not after a team that began the season with modest expectations — externally anyway — morphed into one of the NHL's biggest surprises by finishing a strong second in the Metropolitan Division to return to the playoffs following a three-year absence that at times felt far longer.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby , his face cleanly shaven for now, settled into the bench inside the Pittsburgh Penguins dressing room on Thursday and pulled a black baseball cap over his head. For the first time in what felt like a long time, Crosby didn't have to spend part of a mid-April afternoon cleaning out his locker and answering questions about how another season got away from the Penguins or wonder what might lie ahead during another uncomfortably long summer. Not after a team that began the season with modest expectations — externally anyway — morphed into one of the NHL's biggest surprises by finishing a strong second in the Metropolitan Division to return to the playoffs following a three-year absence that at times felt far longer.
Jokingly asked if he liked talking about the postseason more than whatever murky future might lie ahead, the 38-year-old Crosby — free to let his patchy playoff beard return after an extended break — just smiled. “Way better,” the only player in NHL history to average at least a point in 21 straight seasons said. “This is what you play for, to compete for the Stanley Cup.
And I think after some years not being able to do it, I think we appreciate it even more. ” Perhaps because it was so unexpected. Pittsburgh began the season with a largely unknown first-year coach in Dan Muse and a slew of new faces to play alongside Crosby and fellow franchise fixtures Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang .
The Penguins ended it as the NHL's third-highest scoring team while showcasing the mix of flash and resilience that served as the club's trademarks during a string of 16 consecutive playoff appearances from 2007-22, three of which culminated with a Stanley Cup parade through downtown Pittsburgh in the early days of summer. Reaching those giddy heights again would take some doing. Yet the Penguins are in the mix, and after spending three years watching the postseason go on without them, they will take it.
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