While it looked like the Penguins would suffer another loss, to a team that they should beat mind you, Sidney Crosby finally came through. The Penguins were down 1-0 in the third period until Crosby deflected a puck past Dostal and tied the game and PPG Paints Arena erupted.
The Penguins had life again and the game seemed like it was in reach.
It Was the Crosby Show and He Would Not Be Denied
Crosby was the main reason that the Penguins won this game because he finally looked like he was trying and was back to his old self. In the game, Crosby had 22:31 TOI, was a +2, had both goals, and had six shots on goal.
And Crosby had the game winning goal as he stripped Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier of the puck in the offensive zone, went in all alone on Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal, and beat him top shelf for the OT GWG.
Crosby steals the puck and gets the GAME WINNER pic.twitter.com/ALdX425U2z
— Bob Pompeani (@KDPomp) November 1, 2024
The Penguins Needed Crosby to Find His Game Again
As mentioned plenty of times, it really looked like Crosby did not want to be out there on the ice and it was like he was not trying anymore.
For a while it looked like he was being lazy and not trying to backcheck and was just letting skaters go by him on defense.
That certainly did not seem like the case as he was back to his true form in this game. And the Penguins needed that from Crosby.
The Penguins needed him to get back to his true form and find his game again. Sure the roster does not necessarily look like it is built for the playoffs, but when you have Crosby on the team, anything can happen.
Crosby is going to do everything he can to try to will this team to the playoffs, especially after he was frustrated with missing the playoffs the last few seasons.
Crosby has another chance to light up the score sheet as the Montreal Canadiens make a visit to PPG Paints Arena on Saturday Night.