TORONTO _ Canada Post plans to feature Sidney Crosby in a series of stamps honoring some of hockey's greatest goal-scorers.
A nice gesture, to be sure, but perhaps his home and native land should consider a different tribute.
It just might be time to put his likeness on Canadian currency because, as he proved again Saturday, Sidney Crosby is money.
He scored Canada's first goal and set up its second and third, both scored by linemate Brad Marchand, in a 5-3 victory against Russia in a World Cup of Hockey semifinal at the Air Canada Centre.
Canada will face the winner of Sunday's Sweden-Team Europe semifinal in a best-of-three championship round beginning Tuesday.
Crosby staked the Canadians to a 1-0 lead at 7:40 of the opening period with an outstanding individual effort.
He stole the puck from defenseman Dmitry Kulikov in the left circle in Russia's end, then wheeled toward the net and, after throwing a series of dekes at Russian goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, flipped a backhander into the net for his third goal in four games.
The sequence was vintage Crosby, the confluence of hustle and hard work and skill.
Although Crosby got the only goal in the first period, both teams had opportunities to generate a few more.
Russia was awarded two power plays in the first nine-plus minutes, but failed to capitalize on either.
No real surprise there, considering that it entered the game 0-for-8 with the extra man.
Canada fared no better in three chances with the man-advantage, all assessed during a span of five minutes, 24 seconds.
The Canadians finished the first 20 minutes with a 17-7 advantage in shots, and a clear edge in quality scoring chances.
Their dominance stretched into the second, when Canada kept Russia pinned in its own end for much of the first half of the period.
Russia didn't even manage a shot on Canadian goalie Carey Price until 8:47, but that was all it took to pull into a tie.
Canadian defenseman Jay Bouwmeester made an ill-advised pinch in the Russian end, leading to a 2-on-1 break that culminated in Nikita Kucherov throwing a shot past Price from inside the right circle.
The second assist on the goal went to Evgeni Malkin, who won a defensive-zone draw from Crosby to start the scoring sequence.
Russia went in front at 16:24, when Evgeny Kunetsov moved down the slot and knocked a feed from Ivan Telegin, who was behind the goal line, out of the air and past Price.
Just over a minute later, however, Crosby set up Marchand for the tying goal.
He swiped the puck from defenseman Andrei Markov in the right circle and slid a pass to Marchand, who was at the inner edge of the left circle and shoveled a shot past Bobrovsky.
Canada went in front to stay at 1:16 of the third, when Crosby gave the puck to Marchand, who threw a wrist shot through a screen and past Bobrovsky from above the left circle.
Marchand's second goal was Canada's 17th of the tournament; eight of those came from Crosby and his linemates, Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.
Corey Perry pushed Canada's lead to 4-2 at 5:48, when he tossed in a rebound from between the crease and right circle, and John Tavares scored from the left hash at 9:22.
Russia's Artemi Panarin closed out the scoring with 8.2 seconds to play.
