Pittsburgh Penguins left winger Jake Guentzel scored the goalscorers’ goal against Tampa Bay on Saturday. I won the showdown, went to the net and took the shot.
But did you notice the wrinkles? Center of the line, Sidney Crosby, was not kicked out of the showdown circle. Genzel took a draw at the left dot as part of a pre-planned play. He pulled the puck back to Crosby, who gave it to Chris Letang. It was Letang’s shot that Guentzel redirected under Lightning goaltender Brian Elliott in the third period, which the Penguins won 6–2.
Despite being the Penguins’ top center, Crosby hasn’t taken every draw on his line or power play. did. Again, by design.
“We’re going to make some changes to have some options,” Crosby said after attending optional practice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Sunday.
“We’re not going for it to be something all the time — I’m the centerman. I think it’s just going to come and go for a little while. We’ll see how it goes.”
So far, so good, we’ve won both games. With his 52.7% career matchup success rate, Crosby has 29 draws where he clicks 44.8% of the time. Genzel he won 5-3 and Raquel he won 2-2.
And before this goes any further, Crosby stressed that this tweak had nothing to do with giving his left wrist a break. Missed. He said his wrist, which had been chronically groggy for years before the surgery, was fine.
Genzel and Crosby are left-handed shots, so right-handed Raquel sometimes faces off on his strong side.
A lot of the face-off wrinkles have something to do with Crosby. If he doesn’t draw, he might be able to pick up a showdown victory, like Genzel’s goal on Saturday.
“Anytime we can get[Crosby’s]pack, it’s an advantage for us,” Rakel said. “Try throwing different curveballs at other teams. If you see him lining up in a different way than usual, I’m sure they’ll start thinking more about defense and how they can break the puck. There is
Rakel smiled when asked about Genzel’s goal after Saturday’s face-off.
“I’m sure it will be to our advantage to give them a few different looks,” he said. You might look different, Jake is mean, he knows where to score.”
On the power play, Crosby has so far given up on face-off duties. As in, he did not take the draw at man-advantage. In a 5-for-5 play, the Penguins’ second-line center, Evgeny Malkin, on the power play saw him face off 11 times, of which he won six.
The face-off wrinkle idea didn’t come from Coach.
“I’ll leave that to the players on the ice,” said coach Mike Sullivan. “Sid is playing with Jake and (Raquel). Both of those guys have played center (extensively in the past). Play is the same.
“We’re letting the players decide. Sometimes they’re running different face-to-face looks and stuff that they want certain players in certain positions.”
The leading speculation here is that one long-serving captain is the origin of the idea, even though he downplays the notion.
“That’s what we talked about,” said Crosby. “Just talked to (Genzel) and (Rachel) also took some on his strong side. It’s just what we talked about as a line.”
It just so happens to be packed with offensive talent and centered around one of the game’s finest hockey ethos.
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