More Pens, More Sid

The Pittsburgh Penguins are finally healthy, for the most part, with the return of Sidney Crosby. Besides Crosby, the Pens also got the services of Zbynek Michalek back into the lineup, which is great for the defense and more importantly his blueline partner, Paul Martin, who had been struggling without him. 

The Pens elected to play Sid with his old line-mates of Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz. That line is solid and has been very productive. That being said I loved when head coach Dan Bylsma put Crosby out there with Evgeni Malkin and James Neal. 

Sidney Crosby's return: EPIC

Sidney Crosby is back and better than ever. The hype for his return was overwhelming, for some it was way overdue. The Pittsburgh Penguins did right by Crosby though, allowing he, the coaching staff, and the medical staff to wait until Crosby felt he was ready to perform up to his standards. 

Crosby tore the New York Islanders apart. 2 goals, 2 assists, 4 points, and +3 on the night in his first actual hockey game in 11 months. That's legendary stuff. Of course haters/critics will say that Crosby should have been playing along time ago, those people are idiots. Others are taking away from Crosby's performance because it was against the Islanders. Also idiots.

Crosby did something that maybe Wayne Gretzky and/or Mario Lemieux could have done. That game was hyped up so much. Crosby hadn't played an NHL game in 11 months. He came back and was dominant. A four point game was not on the agenda. I was almost disappointed he didn't score a hat-trick.

What Crosby did was magical. Crosby's return was something that legends are made of. I know Alexander Ovechkin would have never been able to do that.

Crosby is no doubt the best player in the world, he's a Ferrari, and it's great that he's back for the Pens and the NHL. Stay healthy 87!

Sid and Mario:

Hats off to my hero Mario Lemieux for making sure that the night was special for Sid. Lemieux had a comeback of his own in 2000 that was a little more epic than Sid's. Lemieux was out of the game for years and even beat cancer in the 90's, Crosby was out for less than a year and a concussion. Although there is no comparison between the two, Crosby did exceed my expectations and damn near out Lemieux-ed  Lemieux.

Speaking of comparison between Crosby and Lemieux, Sid might be able to do something else similar to Mario. In the 92-93 season Lemieux missed two months worth of hockey due to cancer treatment. When Lemieux returned and trailed Pat LaFontaine by 12 points with 24 games to go. Lemieux beat LaFontaine by 12 points to win the scoring title. LaFontaine played in 24 more games than Lemieux that year.

Now that was certainly a different era. Current scoring leader Phil Kessel has played in 21 more games than Crosby. He currently has 26 more points than him. Can Crosby do to Kessel what Lemieux did to LaFontaine? I don't see why not? Crosby is the best player in the world and is coming back with a vengeance. All it takes is for Crosby to get on a similar streak that he had last season before he got injured. You know when he had the 25-game scoring streak where he scored 26 goals and 24 assists.

I have no doubt in my mind that Crosby can win the scoring title and Hart trophy this season. I certainly wouldn't bet against him.


Follow me on Twitter @madchad412

He's Back:

Sidney Crosby is finally coming back in case you haven't heard. Not that big of a deal, Crosby has only been out of action for 324 days because of a severe concussion he suffered in the 2011 Winter Classic. (F you Steckel)

#Crosbywatch has been tiresome with the same news being reported everyday, the same questions being asked, and different guesses and predictions about the superstar's return. It's all finally over. The best hockey player in the world is back.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have had success without Crosby. Last year they finished with one of the highest point totals in franchise history without having Crosby and/or Evgeni Malkin for the entire second half of the season and in the playoffs. The Pens lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the a seven-game series in the first round of the playoffs.

This year the Pens have played 20 games, going 11-6-3, with 25 points. That's really good considering that they haven't had Crosby and Malkin also missed 7 games.

Adding Crosby to this team doesn't really seem fair to the rest of the league. Had Crosby not gotten hurt last year he might have ran away with his second career scoring title.

Now without playing in the first 20 games, I would be willing to be that Crosby can and will finish in at least the top 20 in total points.

If Crosby can stay healthy and play in all 62 games, using his career points per game average of 1.3, Sid could get around 82 points, which would be legendary in today's NHL. I think he'll miss a few starts here and there and finish with a stat line of 58 games played,  35 goals, 40 assists, 75 points.

The rest of the NHL just shit themselves with this news. Crosby is back, the Pens have no doubt the best team in the NHL. Yeah Boy!

Oh by the way, Crosby is making his return against the New York Islanders. For his career, Crosby has tore the Islanders a part posting 18 goals, 62 points, in just 62 games. Although, his 25-game scoring streak came to an end last year in Long Island.

P.s. I have glass seats behind the net for tomorrow nights game. Be jealous. Hail Crosby. Follow me on Twitter @MadChad412 

Stupid Yinzers:

Welcome to a new segment on my blog called "Stupid Things Yinzers Say".  Basically, I'm going to troll the message boards, facebook, twitter, etc to find stupid comments about certain parts of Pittsburgh sports that people tend to spout off. I like to call ignorant Pittsburgh sports fans "yinzers". At least that's my definition. 




So let's start if off. Marc-Andre Fleury is a popular Pittsburgh athlete to bash for the yinzers. Mostly because they do not understand the game of hockey very much. I do not go on Facebook that much but when I do, after a Pens' loss, Fleury takes a beating. The stupid comments come out to play. 

Lee Corso Says "Fuck It"

Not so fast my friend. Lee Corso drops a F-Bomb on live tv. I don't think Disney is going to like that very much.

Tim Tebow is QB Jesus

 Tim Tebow did it again last night. He played awful and found a way to win the game, and come up big with the game on the line. That's not something all quarterbacks can do, see Jay Cutler, Tony Romo, Michael Vick, and Philip Rivers.