When the New York Rangers face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in game two of their playoff series tonight, they will be hoping Sidney Crosby will be held off of the scoresheet again.
Dating back to last season, Crosby, universally hailed as the game's best player, has not scored in 12 consecutive playoff contests. The last goal he scored in the playoffs was against Ottawa's Craig Anderson in game 5 of last season's Eastern Conference semi-finals.
I wonder if Crosby is hiding an injury because he has not been as dominant as we would expect. The certain 2014 Hart Trophy winner has picked up 6 assists in 7 post-season games so far, all against Columbus. Only two of those assists were primary markers.
As the home-ice team in games one and two Pittsburgh does have the last change but New York's depth on defense keeps Crosby bottled up nicely. In a perfect world coach Alain Vigneault would like to see Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi on the ice at all times vs. Crosby but the second pairing of Anton Stralman and Marc Staal has also done a solid job when the line-matching game can not be orchestrated.
Odds are Sidney Crosby will break out of his slump, and soon. The Rangers just hope it isn't on Sunday night.
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