Empty Thoughts: Penguins 3, Islanders 2

Observations from the Penguins’ 3-2 win against the Islanders

The 1,000-game club doesn’t exactly have exclusive membership. There are 350 players who have hit that plateau.

Sure, there are a bunch of Hockey Hall of Famers like Gordie Howe, Mark Messier and Larry Robinson in that bunch.

But there’s a lot more Darryl Sydors, Lyle Odeleins and Jamie Macouns in that group.

Reaching that mark is a nice milestone. It reaffirms that you’ve been good enough to last in the best hockey league on Earth for a long time.

But it’s not all that unique.

Even playing 1,000 games for one franchise isn’t exactly a rarity.

Prior to Saturday, 24 of the NHL’s active 31 franchises have had at least one player suit up for 1,000 games in their jerseys.

Somehow, the Penguins were not one of them until captain Sidney Crosby took the ice at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night.

For all the elite talent that has played for the Penguins over half a century, they’ve never had a single player play in 1,000 games for the franchise.

Certainly, there’s been a ton of all-time great players like Larry Murphy, Ron Francis or Andy Bathgate who have hit that 1,000-game mark as a member of the Penguins, but no one has ever dressed for that many games exclusively for the Penguins before Crosby.

Heck, even Mario Lemieux fell nearly a season short of reaching that mark at 915 games.

(Lemieux has actually owned the Penguins for far more games — 1,476 — than he played for them.)

In contrast, the Ottawa Senators have been around for less than 30 years and have three 1,000-gamers, including knuckle-dragging enforcer Chris Neil (1,026).

It took 54 years but the Penguins finally got one.

There are tons of ways to quantify what Crosby has meant to the Penguins. And probably the most prominent are the three most recent Stanley Cup banners that hang from the rafters at PPG Paints Arena.

But the fact that his entire career has unfolded in Western Pennsylvania should never go underappreciated.

It’s easy to take him for granted, even after the concussion woes he endured roughly a decade ago. In many ways, he’s like a public utility. You can turn on a Penguins game and expect Sidney Crosby to be in the lineup ready to do something that will captivate you just as much as you would expect water to pour from your faucet.

He’s been the North Star for the Penguins for 16 years. Relatively few franchises can say they’ve had that type of stability for such a long period of time, not even the Minnesota North Stars.

The numbers will always reflect well on Crosby. And 1,000 games certainly does look nice.

But those tabulations should not be his legacy with the Penguins.

His reliability should.

“Every win (is) good,” defenseman Kris Letang said. “I mean, to get it for him on his 1,000th game is special. He’s been giving so much to his teammates throughout the years. To get him that win for him is huge.”

What happened

After a scoreless first period, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead at 12:35 of the second period with a power-play goal. After Crosby stroked a one-timer from the top of New York’s right circle, Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov booted out a rebound to the end boards. The puck deflected to the right corner where Crosby claimed it. Shielding the puck from Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech, Crosby spun to his right and fed a pass to forward Evgeni Malkin at the right point. Taking the puck on his backhand, Malkin pivoted to his right and slide a forehand pass to the top of the left circle where Letang smacked a one-timer that blew past Varlamov’s blocker on the near side for his first goal of the season. Assists went to Malkin and Crosby.

The Islanders responded less than three minutes later at the 15:28 mark off a series of errors by the Penguins. Malkin led a rush into the Islanders’ zone on the left wing and forced a pass that bounced off of the left skate of Penguins forward Jason Zucker. On a backcheck, Islanders forward Jordan Eberle claimed the loose puck and fed a pass to Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier who was entering the Penguins’ zone with speed. Going deep on the right wing, Beauvillier spun off a check from Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph and fed a pass to Eberle, trailing on the sequence. As Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson inexplicably yielded an open lane to the crease, Eberle took the charity and attacked. Going forehand to backhand, he avoided a poke check from goaltender Tristan Jarry and tucked in his seventh goal. Beauvillier had the lone assist.

Another faux pas by the Penguins led to another goal for the Islanders early in the third period at the 53-second mark. After a poor clearing attempt by Zucker from his own right corner, Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield knocked the puck dead above the right circle. Islanders forward Brock Nelson claimed the bouncing puck, circled to the high slot and floated a wrister that beat Jarry’s glove hand for his fifth goal. Joseph and Islanders forward Josh Bailey screened Jarry on the sequence. The lone assist went to Mayfield.

Matheson made amends for his error on New York’s first goal at 7:35 of the third. After making a strong effort to skate the puck out of danger from behind his own net and to the neutral zone, Matheson chipped the puck up the right wing boards into the offensive zone. Penguins forward Teddy Blueger claimed the puck and pushed it up deep on the right wing then slipped a backhand pass to the right circle for Matheson who snapped off a wrister for his first goal as a member of the Penguins. Blueger and forward Sam Lafferty recorded assists.

The Penguins took back a lead, 3-2, at 13:34 of the third. After Penguins forwards Jake Guentzel and Brandon Tanev won a puck battle on New York’s end boards against Islanders forward Anders Lee and defenseman Nick Leddy, Crosby claimed the puck near the left corner and fed a pass to Letang above the left circle. Taking a moment to survey for a shooting lane, Letang gripped and ripped a wrister that beat Varlamov high past his glove. Crosby and Guentzel collected assists.

Statistically speaking

• The Islanders dominated shots, 35-18.

• Islanders forward Mathew Barzal led the game with seven shots.

• Matheson led the Penguins with three shots.

• Penguins defenseman John Marino led the game with 24:55 of ice time on 26 shifts.

• Leddy led the Islanders with 22:58 of ice time on 25 shifts.

• The Islanders controlled faceoffs, 32-21 (60%).

• Crosby was 13 for 22 (59%).

• Nelson was 9 for 14 (64%).

• Tanev, Penguins defensemen Cody Ceci, Mayfield and Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson each led the game with three blocked shots.

Randomly speaking

• The Islanders controlled this game for the first 45 minutes or so. They weren’t exactly dominant but they had the better of the play as evidenced by the shot discrepancy. In a lot of ways, Jarry was the difference as he kept his team in this contest.

Jarry seems to be really tuned in at the moment after a poor start to the season. Over his past four games, Jarry has stopped 131 of 140 shots, equating to a save percentage of .935.

• Coach Mike Sullivan shuffled the right wings on his first, third and fourth lines. Namely, Tanev was promoted to the top line, Sam Lafferty was promoted to the third line and Kasperi Kapanen was demoted to the fourth line.

Kapanen really fell out of favor with Sullivan early in this contest as the change took place late in the first period. In the third period alone, Kapanen recorded one shift totaling 19 seconds.

• Another player who didn’t see much ice time as the game wore on was Joseph. He only had four shifts in the third period with none coming in the final 8:45 of play.

• Matheson was hardly perfect. His defense on Eberle’s goal was pretty awful. But he continues to make strides. During the first games of the season in Philadelphia in mid-January, he looked exactly like a new player struggling to get used to his new team without much of a training camp. Today, he looks like he’s been skating with the Penguins for five years. His jump in confidence is very evident.

• There was a brief scare with Malkin. At 13:27 of the first period, he left the game after taking a rough tumble into his own right boards after Barzal spun away from a check attempt:

Malkin appeared to be favoring his right leg. He did not return to the game until 4:45 of the second period.

• Lafferty recorded his first point of the season.

• Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese had a four-game scoring streak snapped.

• The pregame ceremonies:

Historically speaking

• Crosby appeared in his 1,000th game. He became the 10th player in franchise history to reach that mark while playing for the Penguins. It’s really a pretty random list:

• Crosby became the fourth native of Nova Scotia to appear in 1,000 games. He was preceded by defenseman Al MacInnis (1,416) as well as forwards Bobby Smith (1,077) and Glen Murray (1,009).

• Matheson became the 539th player to score a regular season goal for the Penguins.

Publicly speaking

• Crosby on the milestone:

“It means a lot. It’s a special day regardless of the outcome. But it makes it so much better when you win. Just everything from the guys, the ceremony in the room (and) on the ice. Just completely spoiled today. It was a pretty awesome experience. A day that I’ll always remember and just even sweeter that we were able to win.”

• Sullivan on Jarry:

“He was really good tonight. There’s no question. Tristan was a difference-maker tonight. His first period, he was really good. They had a number of quality scoring chances. He made some timely saves for us. I think we were opportunistic with some of the goals that we scored. Quite honestly, we got outplayed a lot of the night. The goaltender has an opportunity to be a difference-maker and he was for us tonight.“

• Matheson on Jarry:

“I mean, Tristan won us that game, hands down. After the second period, it was 1-1 and we had no reason to be in that game. We didn’t play the way we should or need to to stay with a team like the Islanders. But he kept us in it, and did so through the third period as well.”

• Sullivan on Kapanen’s scant playing time in the third period:

“I was trying to find guys that were bringing it tonight, that were competing hard and were going to give us the best chance to win. And some nights, those things are going to happen. I didn’t think (Kapanen) had his game going tonight. And so I was trying to find guys that were going to give us an opportunity to win.”

• Matheson on the sequence leading to his goal:

“That play was just a scenario where I felt like I had the forechecker on my back and was just trying to skate until somebody got open and nothing really came of it. So I just shoveled it up the wall and it got to Teddy and he made a great play.”

• Former Red Wings All-Star forward Steve Yzerman was featured on the pregame video in recognition of Crosby’s milestone. Crosby spoke of that importance:

“He was a role model for me growing up. I love the way he played, carried himself. He obviously played on winning teams, great teams. My first year, I was really excited to be playing against (the Detroit Red Wings). At the time, he had an eye injury and he didn’t play that night. I remember getting on the bus after the game, I got a call and it was from him just saying that he wished he would have been able to get out there and play against me. He wished me all the best and good luck. I was always a big fan of him. But just an unbelievable (gesture) and a lot of class. It’s something that I’ll always remember. It was pretty special to see him on a video here tonight.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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