Sidney Crosby impressed by scoring talent on Jets

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This article was published 27/11/2018 (2475 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sidney Crosby is accustomed to special attention from opposition defenders, but the Pittsburgh superstar admitted that facing the Winnipeg Jets and sniper Patrik Laine will require extra care Tuesday night.

The Jets (13-7-2, fourth in the Central Division) host the Penguins (9-8-5, sixth in the Metropolitan) in their lone Bell MTS Place visit tonight at 7 p.m.

Laine scored five times in Winnipeg’s 8-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues Saturday and is tied with Boston’s David Pastrnak for the NHL’s goal-scoring lead at 19.

“It’s always a tough place to play, and coming off a five-goal game I’m sure he’ll be pretty confident, but they’ve got a lot of different guys that can score. Their power play is obviously really good, so just try and be disciplined and try and get a good start,” Crosby said following the Penguins’ morning skate.

Crosby was asked if he remembered Pittsburgh’s previous visit to Winnipeg, a 7-1 loss on Oct. 17, 2017.

“Geez, I don’t know. I get ’em mixed up. Was it the blowout game, back-to-back? Yeah, I try to forget that one. That’s probably why I don’t remember it quite as well. I think that was (goaltender Casey DeSmith’s) first time coming in net. I think Wheeler’s first shot was for a hat trick. So probably not the game we wanted and not the start we wanted, but we’ll learn from that. Not playing a back-to-back, there’s no excuses for our start here,” he said.

Pittsburgh’s slow start doesn’t faze Jets head coach Paul Maurice.

“It doesn’t matter what’s on the tape, it’s what they’re capable of doing regardless of what their last game looked like. They’re capable of being an elite team in this NHL. The’ve got five or six, certainly three or four extremely talented players, dynamic players. Each one of them can win a game on their own, so I expect them to be at their best,” he said.

Jets captain Blake Wheeler said the Penguins, despite a 3-5-2 record over their last 10 games, are still very much to be feared.

“They have a core of guys that have won, know what it takes,” he said. “They’re incredibly dangerous whenever you play them so it’s always an exciting matchup having some of the best players in the world in your building. It’s always a good measuring stick to see where our team is at.”

NOTEWORTHY: Maurice said defenceman Jacob Trouba, a non-participant during the morning skate, is expected to play tonight. No lineup changes from Saturday’s win in St. Louis are anticipated, although right-winger Mason Appleton, fresh from a call-up from the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, skated with the NHL club. He will be a healthy scratch tonight. Connor Hellebuyck will get the start in net. Forward Andrew Copp (concussion) and defenceman Dmitry Kulikov (upper body) were on the ice prior to the team skate.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14