PITTSBURGH — Entering Saturday night, three things in life seemed to be certain — death, taxes and Sidney Crosby doing something spectacular in his return to the lineup.
But in his season debut against the New Jersey Devils, Crosby had a rough game. He looked rusty with the puck on his stick and took a late penalty that led to the penalty shot that Jesper Bratt buried for the game-winner. Crosby finished the night with a minus-3 rating as the Penguins lost, 4-2, at PPG Paints Arena.
The Penguins have now lost three games in a row in regulation, all at home.
Crosby always seems to amaze whenever he returns after a longer layoff. Prior to Saturday, he scored in four of the past five games in which he rejoined the lineup after missing six-plus games, per Penguins historian Bob Grove. The last instance was his four-point game in his return from a sports hernia in early 2020.
So Penguins fans were abuzz when Crosby was announced with the starters.
Crosby missed the first seven games of the season after undergoing surgery on his left wrist on Sept. 8. He returned to practice in a team setting Oct. 9 and cleared the final hurdles in intense practice sessions Wednesday and Friday.
Coach Mike Sullivan declared after Saturday’s morning skate that his captain would make his season debut against the Devils. Fellow Penguins center Jeff Carter, who missed three games due to COVID-19, also got back into mix Saturday.
“I think it goes without saying that they offer us so much on both sides of the puck. We’re just a much better hockey team when they’re in our lineup,” Sullivan said. “So we’re excited to have them back. It gives us more depth. It makes our power play more dangerous. … It has a ripple effect on our whole team.”
Entering Saturday, the Penguins had lost two in a row, scoring one sad, lonely goal in total. They were shut out, 4-0, by the Calgary Flames on Thursday. So the timing of Crosby’s return was good, but he didn’t deliver the expected impact.
Crosby had a scoring chance in the first period, flinging a backhand shot as a Devils defender toppled him in the slot. But Jonathan Bernier kicked it out. In the second, the crowd groaned when Crosby was alone streaking to the net but a pass hopped over his stick. He couldn’t hit an open net in a 2-2 game in the third.
Given that Crosby had the surgery on his left wrist, which as the bottom hand on his stick is how he creates leverage for faceoffs, his work in the circle was a subplot Saturday. He won the opening faceoff clean but just eight of 23 overall. It is also worth noting that Sullivan had Carter take power-play faceoffs over Crosby.
Then with three minutes left in regulation and the score still tied, Bratt got a step on Crosby and Crosby took him down while trying to break up the play. A penalty shot was called and Bratt faked Jarry out of his pads for the winning goal.
Jarry stopped 36 of 40 shots in the loss, the goalie’s second in as many starts.
The game started well enough for Crosby and the Penguins. Midway through the first period, Danton Heinen scored the first goal of the night and his fourth in eight games with the Penguins. Defenseman Juuso Riikola, in the lineup for the first time since Jan. 19, set it up with a strong drive to the net from the right point.
New Jersey tied it up in the final minute of the first period when a pass attempt by Andreas Johnsson bounced off the skate of Evan Rodrigues and behind Jarry. Then came what was probably the Penguins’ worst period of this young season.
In the second, their puck management was poor and everyone was out of sorts defensively. Jarry had to stare down Michael McLeod on a breakaway, stretch out his right toe to keep Dougie Hamilton off the scoreboard and slide out to stuff P.K. Subban when the Devils defenseman charged in and let one rip.
On the flip side, the Penguins got very little going offensively. Their only good look came when Danton Heinen sprung Carter, who couldn’t beat Bernier there.
Despite their sloppy play, the Penguins got a chance to take a lead late in the period when they got a power play. But Crosby flubbed a pass to the point, putting John Marino in no-man’s land. His desperation dive was unsuccessful and Jimmy Vesey scored shor-thanded on his breakaway to give the Devils a 2-1 lead.
The Penguins regrouped during the intermission and had a quick response in the third period. Teddy Blueger won a race to the puck in the right corner, spun out of a check and while falling down centered the puck to Brock McGinn. The free-agent addition fired it past Bernier for his second goal with the Penguins.
The Penguins got two more power plays in the first 10 minutes of the third period but couldn’t convert either despite getting a few good looks. The best one came after Crosby made a cross-crease pass to Jake Guentzel but Bernier slid across to make an arrogant glove save on Guentzel, who hasn’t scored since Jan. 14.
The Devils then grabbed the lead for good when Bratt converted his penalty shot.
Crosby and the Penguins now get four days to prepare for their next game, a home battle Thursday with their cross-state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers.
