Sidney Crosby had himself a night.
Maybe the cure for what ailed Crosby was a simple dose of familiarity. He hooked up with his old linemate Pascal Dupuis to open the scoring early versus the Montreal Canadiens. Crosby would add his second assist of the night on Patric Hornqvist’s game-tying goal in the third period.
No. 87 capped off the night by sealing the Penguins’ win with a shootout goal on Mike Condon.
Crosby’s up to two goals and nine points on the season, which is still well below what you would expect from him, but a pair of highlight reel assists, at even-strength to boot, is a good sign that he’s rounding into his usual offensive form.
Purcell played 3-on-3 OT hero
Are you not entertained by 3-on-3 overtime?
Teddy Purcell took a stretch pass from Andrej Sekera and proceeded to walk into the Ducks’ zone and go backhand shelf on Frederik Andersen. Nice secondary assists from goaltender Anders “The Giant” Nilsson.
The Edmonton Oilers improved to 6-10 on the season.
Dupuis made an instant impact in return
Dupuis missed a pair of games last week following a precautionary trip to an Edmonton hospital.
He did not waste much time making his presence felt upon his return to the Penguins’ lineup, slipping a puck past Condon just 13 seconds into Wednesday’s meeting with the Canadiens. Dupuis was the recipient of a filthy pass from Crosby.
A pair of Ducks reached milestones in SO loss
It’s all about silver-linings for the Anaheim Ducks.
Corey Perry scored two goals in a 4-3 shootout loss, raising his season total to four. He also raised his career total to 300.
Shawn Horcoff’s third period goal was the 500th point of his career.
The Ducks have scored three or more goals in five of their last six games after scoring just 10 in their first 10 games.
Fleury cries tears of blood
Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was forced out of Wednesday night’s game after he took an accidental stick to the face from teammate Ben Lovejoy.
Jeff Zatkoff briefly relieved Fleury while he went to the room for repairs.
Upon his return to the ice, Fleury was wearing an obvious sign of battle damage…his own blood.
Looks like Lovejoy might be footing Fleury’s dinner tabs for the foreseeable future.