Sidney Crosby's long-awaited return not enough as Penguins lose to Devils

The Penguins needed Sidney Crosby.

Not necessarily within the limited context of their home game against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

But for the past 16 years. Over that span, they’ve needed him in just about every way a professional sports team needs an individual athlete.

As for Saturday’s contest, the Penguins didn’t get quite what they needed on the ice from Crosby, who made his season debut after being sidelined after surgery to his chronically injured left wrist Sept 8. Despite the presence of Crosby and forward Jeff Carter, back in the lineup after missing three games after a positive test for covid-19, the Penguins’ offense continued to struggle as they lost to the Devils, 4-2, at PPG Paints Arena. It was their third consecutive loss.

Crosby’s first game of the season might ultimately hold up as his worst the entire 2020-21 campaign. Logging 19:16 of ice time on 23 shifts, he had no points, two shots on three attempts and had a rough night in the faceoff circle, winning only eight of his 15 draws (35%).

Worse yet, he had a hand in two of the Devils’ goals.

“Ultimately, you want to win and play well,” Crosby said. “And that didn’t happen tonight. Got some improving to do here.”

His coach was more charitable in assessing the captain’s performance.

“It’s his first game in probably five months,” Mike Sullivan said. “We all have such high expectations of him. For him, it’s not an easy thing to jump into a regular season NHL game when you’ve gone through what he’s gone through. I thought he competed hard. He’s going to get better with each game that he plays.

“He expects a lot of himself so it doesn’t surprise me that he had those comments. But our expectation is that it’s going to take him a few games to get his timing back and things of that nature. He’ll get better with every game.”

Another returning player helped the Penguins claim the first lead 12:23 seconds into regulation. Defenseman Juuso Riikola, appearing in his first game since Jan. 17, went in deep on the right wing of the offensive zone and flicked a backhanded pass to the front of slot. Forward Zach Aston-Reese chopped at the puck but fanned on the release.

After goaltender Jonathan Bernier kicked out the puck with his right leg to the left of the crease, Penguins forward Danton Heinen followed up the sequence and lifted a wrister over Bernier’s blocker for his team-leading fourth goal of the season. Assists went to Aston-Reese and Riikola, who recorded his first NHL point since Jan. 12, 2020.

The Devils tied the game, 1-1, at 19:23 of the first. Corralling a loose puck on the left wing of the offensive zone, Devils forward Andreas Johnsson slid a pass to the right of the crease. Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues bodied up the intended target, Devils forward Dawson Mercer, but inadvertently deflected the puck with his left skate past goaltender Tristan Jarry on the near side. Johnsson was credited with his second goal of the season off assists from forward Jesper Bratt and defenseman Dougie Hamilton.

A short-handed goal at 17:57 of the second gave the Devils their first lead. After Crosby fed a soft pass from the right circle to the right point, Devils forward Jimmy Vesey poke-checked the puck by pinching Penguins defenseman John Marino into the neutral zone.

Dancing past a fallen Marino to reclaim the puck, Vesey skated in from just past his own blue line on a breakaway and slipped a backhander through Jarry’s legs for his second goal.

Things were tied 2-2 only 2:02 into the final period. Racing up the right wing to chase a dump-in on the Devils’ end boards, Penguins forward Teddy Blueger fended off Devils defenseman Damon Severson, spun to his right and fed a forehand pass to trailing linemate Brock McGinn in the right circle.

From there, McGinn ripped a forehand shot past Bernier’s blocker on the far side for his second goal. Blueger and Aston-Reese tallied assists.

Following two unsuccessful power-play attempts for the Penguins in the wake of McGinn’s goal, Crosby figured in on the winning score at 17:00 of the third period. After Crosby shoved Bratt from behind into the Penguins’ cage, referee Corey Syvret awarded the Devils a penalty shot. Coasting in on net, Bratt tucked a backhander past the glove of a scrambling Jarry for his first goal.

“Maybe a penalty,” Crosby said. “Maybe. But I didn’t agree with the call.”

Johnsson capped the scoring 1:17 later with another goal as Jarry tried to vacate the net for an extra attacker. Defenseman P.K. Subban had the lone assist.

Jarry finished with 36 saves on 40 shots as his record fell to 3-2-1.

“(Jarry) kept us in that game there,” McGinn said. “We just weren’t executing as well as we should. We were turning pucks over. He gave us a chance there. Unfortunately, we couldn’t back him up there.”

For the Penguins, they’ve now lost a season-high three consecutive games.

“We weren’t good enough tonight as a team,” Sullivan said. “We need to be better as a team in all areas. Our attention to detail wasn’t as good. We weren’t skating. We weren’t playing the game on our toes. We’ve had a fair amount of games here where we have been that way.

“It’s always an interesting dynamic when you bring players back into the lineup. The challenge is to continue to play the game. Everybody has to think in terms of trying to make a positive impact on the game. We just didn’t do that as a team tonight.”

The Penguins will have a scheduled day off on Sunday then will likely practice for three days before hosting the rival Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

Presumably, with the benefit of a few days of refinement, Crosby’s second game of the season will go far better than his first.

“I felt better in practice than I did tonight,” Crosby said. “That’s basically what it came down to. That’s not an excuse. It’s not my wrist. I just … I didn’t get it done.”