The 10 greatest goals of Penguins captain Sidney Crosby's career

New York Times

a day ago

When you think of the Pittsburgh Penguins these days, you probably think negative thoughts. Rebuilding. Rough times. The glory days in the rear-view mirror.
Still, you think of Sidney Crosby, and all of the associated special memories. The captain is still going strong and, because he turns 38 on Thursday, this week's articles will all focus on one of the greatest hockey players of all time.
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To start off Crosby Week, I'm going to rank his 10 greatest goals. Now, 'great' can mean a lot of things, so for this ranking, I mostly considered the degree of difficulty, importance, and how memorable the goal was.
If I were speaking to someone 100 years from now — and hey, assuming the internet exists 100 years from now, maybe I am — these are the 10 goals I'd pick to articulate Crosby's greatness.
Crosby scored a goal in Arizona during his rookie year while falling down. You'll never see another goal quite like it.
Crosby skated through the entire Rangers team — literally — while scoring one of the great goals of his career in 2006.
Crosby whacked a puck not once, but twice, out of midair in a brilliant effort against the Canadiens.
It was opening day in Major League Baseball, so Crosby showed off his swing. His shot clanged off the post in overtime. He then somehow whacked the rebound out of midair — he had the presence of mind to wait until the puck dropped low enough so it wouldn't go as a high stick on the puck — and buried it home. Everyone in the building was speechless after this one.
Crosby went sliding on the ice to catch up with a Mark Recchi pass and scored one of the great highlight-reel goals of his career.
One of the fascinating statistics in hockey history is that Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe and Mark Messier never won a postseason game in overtime. Wayne Gretzky did it only once.
Crosby, too, has lit the lamp in overtime only once in his storied career. But it couldn't have come at a much bigger moment.
The Penguins lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final against Tampa Bay in 2016 and blew a 2-0 lead on home ice in Game 2, sending the game to overtime. In net for the Lightning was a somewhat unknown but freakishly talented rookie named Andrei Vasilevskiy.
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Crosby took a feed from Bryan Rust in overtime and whipped a shot past the Tampa Bay goaltender to even the series and give Crosby one up on Lemieux, his former landlord and his team's former owner.
Right around the time Connor McDavid took the crown from Crosby as the world's greatest hockey player, Crosby reminded the young star of his greatness.
With the score knotted at 5 in overtime in Edmonton, Crosby danced around two Oilers and, with McDavid helplessly watching from only a few feet away, finished off one of the great goals of his career.
The goal was classic Crosby: It required exquisite edge work, hockey IQ, determination and a backhand that will stand the test of time. Even many of the Edmonton faithful politely applauded the effort.
One of the joys of watching Crosby regularly is observing how elevated his hockey IQ is compared to other players. It's amazing to see the curiosity in his game as he experiments with something new.
Back in 2017, when he was putting the finishing touches on his second Rocket Richard Trophy, Crosby very calmly shot a puck from an impossible angle off of Henrik Lundqvist's mask and into the net. He did it purposely, which adds an extra layer to one of his more incredible goals.
Lundqvist was slightly annoyed after the game that Crosby would shoot a puck off his mask on purpose. Crosby was slightly annoyed that Lundqvist was annoyed. The Penguins-Rangers rivalry has always been a good one, and this moment only added to it.
Crosby and Alex Ovechkin waged a war for the ages in the 2009 postseason. Each superstar scored eight goals in the second-round meeting between the Penguins and Capitals. But it was Crosby who notched two in the deciding Game 7 victory on Washington ice.
With the game all but over in the third period, Crosby stripped Ovechkin of the puck and scored on a breakaway.
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It was one of the most symbolic moments of Crosby's career, as he almost always found a way to rise to the occasion against his biggest rival, Ovechkin.
These days, shootouts are something of a yawn fest. But that certainly wasn't the case in 2005.
Crosby's first season marked the NHL's first time using shootouts to determine victories. His first shootout goal couldn't have been more historic.
After all, it was the first time the Penguins ever won a game in a shootout, it was Crosby's first shootout goal, and it came on the night when Lemieux scored his final NHL goal. You got your money's worth if you attended this game.
Lemieux was stopped on his shot, but Crosby then unleashed a backhand rocket that became one of the signature goals of his career.
Given the circumstances, this is one of the greatest goals I've ever witnessed.
The Penguins were down 3-2 in the 2016 Eastern Conference final heading into Game 6 in Tampa. That morning, Crosby and Evgeni Malkin sat quietly beside one another in the Penguins locker room, the final two people in the room after the morning skate. The pressure on them was immense. The Penguins hadn't won the Stanley Cup in seven years.
They took a 2-0 lead, then Crosby scored the eventual winner on a brilliant individual effort that left Amalie Arena quiet. It was classic Crosby, as he displayed an initial back-check burst, and then showed the kind of edge work and determination that only he can.
This was the night that Crosby decided he hated the Philadelphia Flyers. Derian Hatcher knocked out a few of his teeth, which the officials didn't deem worthy of a penalty. Crosby was then given a penalty for running his mouth to those officials. All the while, the Philadelphia crowd was having great fun taunting the 18-year-old phenom.
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Crosby proceeded to set up a Ryan Malone goal and then score one of his own. Then, the game went to overtime, and Doc Emrick's legendary call: 'Crosby, the game on his stick' reverberates all of these years later. Crosby scored and didn't even smile as he skated toward his teammates.
He's been taking it out on Philadelphia ever since.
Well, Crosby scored on a one-handed backhand in Buffalo. I haven't a clue what else to say about this goal. Simply brilliant.
You know a guy is great when the most famous goal in hockey history only ranks as his second greatest goal.
Apologies to Canada, but I have to rank this one No. 1.
Crosby hadn't played in almost a year because of a concussion that threatened his career. On his second shift, he erupted through the Islanders and scored a goal that Pittsburgh will never forget. If you can read lips, well, you know how excited he was.
He was back. He was as good as ever. He was as competitive as ever. His sense of theater remained.
Normal players don't miss that much time and do something like that on their second shift back. Great players don't even do that.
The greatest players of all time do.
(Photo from 2011 Islanders game: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)