What a perfect day to be a Penguins fan. Jaromir Jagr finally got the respect he deserved with a tribute on the jumbotron and Sidney Crosby exploded for a hat trick to catapult himself back into the goal scoring lead in the league.
Sidney Crosby has been playing great and the goals just weren't coming. He finally broke through with a nice power play goal last game and capped it off with an empty netter. Today he was rewarded with actual goals. Brad Marchand has been fantastic in March and found himself as one of the favorites for the goal scoring lead, but Crosby doesn't appear to be content letting his former linemate beat him out for the Rocket Richard. Sid's third goal was a milestone goal. It was his 40th goal of the year. Shockingly enough this is only the second time he has broken the 40 goal mark. The only other time he did was when he scored 51 goals to share the Rocket Richard with Steven Stamkos.
Over the years Sidney Crosby has missed out on a lot of goals and a lot of points because of injuries sustained in his prime years. It is great to see him hit the 40 goal barrier again. You just know it bothers him that he hasn't got to that number as often as he'd like.
Taking back the goal lead wasn't the only thing Crosby was able to accomplish with his hat trick. He is now officially the NHL's scoring leader. He is now tied with Connor McDavid at 80 points and holds the tie breaker because of his goal total.
Here is Sid's third goal. This is a great example of why this line works.
They all have the ability to make plays off of the wall and keep plays alive. Each member of the line is a capable passer and clever in how they find soft spots. They do a great job of creating offense from low to high and that is difficult to defend. Most lines that create offense from low to high involve the points, but this line is so effective that it goes from the end boards to the high danger area.
I am not exaggerating when I say that this will probably be the best trio of Sidney Crosby's career. The ages of Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary along with the contract status has the potential for this to be a long term thing and it more than likely will be. Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis were great compliments to Crosby, but this line has a little bit more speed and passing ability. Patric Hornqvist has been a really solid linemate for Crosby, but he can't make controlled plays like the ones we are seeing from this line. Controlled plays are the life blood for Crosby. If a play is kept alive long enough Crosby will eventually burn you and that is the case shift in and shift out with his current linemates. This is a perfect blend of talents to not only get tangible results to win hockey games, but ultimately entertain hockey fans on a consistent basis which isn't the easiest task in the NHL.
Conor Sheary is producing offense that not many Crosby linemates have been able to accomplish
The most impressive part about Sheary's season is that this isn't being propped up with power play numbers. He is doing mostly all of this at even-strength. This is no fluke. People scoff at me for suggesting that he's a four million dollar per year player, but he's producing like players who make more than that. Pittsburgh is fortunate that their gamble on Sheary has paid off and that he does not need to be protected in the expansion draft. Jake Guentzel does not need to be protected either.
Jaromir Jagr was finally given some proper respect from both the team and fans in Pittsburgh. The former Penguins legend was honored for being one of the NHL's top 100 players in league history which was accompanied by a tribute video.
His number will be retired by the Pittsburgh Penguins if he ever decides to retire. He is not only hockey royalty in Pittsburgh, but everywhere he goes. It's just unfortunate that a certain faction of ignorant fans took so long to come around to this.
Jagr spoke after the game about how he heard the boos and never once held it against the fans
“What happened was a long time ago,” Jagr started. “It was one-sided. I never really felt anything bad about the organization or the fans, even though they were booing me all the time, every time I touched the puck.
“There became such a huge hole between me and the organization,” Jagr said. “I felt bad for the organization. They did everything they could. They gave me a chance to play hockey in the NHL. They made me the player I am.
"It doesn’t matter how [the Penguins or their fans] felt about me. I never felt bad about them.”
I suppose this could technically be the last time Jagr plays in Pittsburgh but we all know that is a lie. He's more than likely going to play a few more years and why not? He's still performing like a top six player.
Pittsburgh will be back in action on Tuesday with a road game in Western New York against the struggling Sabres.
Thanks for reading!
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