Penguins react to beating Devils in first game without Sidney Crosby

[ad_1] Not lengthy after it was discovered that Pittsburgh Penguins famous person Sidney Crosby will miss at the least 4 weeks of motion because of the lower-body harm he suffered in the course of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, veteran winger Bryan Rust insisted that he and different Pittsburgh gamers would show those that consider the Penguins will disintegrate with out their captain mistaken.

The Penguins then scored three third-period objectives to earn an emotional 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night time. Following that house win, Rust expanded on how he and his teammates should proceed to select up the slack amid Crosby's absences.

Penguins gamers should "step up" in a number of methods with Sidney Crosby out of motion "All people’s bought to step up," Rust mentioned, per Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Evaluation. "Not simply with their play however with how we deal with the locker room, how we deal with the ebbs and flows of the sport. All these little issues."

It was goaltender Arturs Silovs who stepped up in an enormous method for the Penguins at PPG Paints Area on Thursday. The stats present that he stopped 28 of 29 photographs, however The Athletic's Josh Yohe famous that Silovs prevented the Devils from coming into the third interval of motion with at the least a two- or three-goal lead.

"For certain, he’s an enormous a part of the group, however there’s guys who can step up," Silovs mentioned concerning the Penguins successful with out Crosby. "If I can do it for the time (till) he comes again, we’re going to be in an amazing spot."

A lot can and can change by the point Crosby returns, assuming he truly will have the ability to play once more earlier than the common season wraps up. 30-15-12 Pittsburgh will enter Saturday afternoon's recreation on the New York Rangers (22-29-7) within the second playoff spot within the Metropolitan Division standings. Following that matchup, the Penguins will full 17 video games in 31 days.

Penguins gamers motivated to "do one thing good" with Sidney Crosby out of motion Briefly, Thursday night time must be solely the start for the Penguins if they're to stay at the least within the hunt for a playoff spot earlier than Crosby resumes skating.

"Clearly, you possibly can’t change the stuff that he does, however different guys are going to get extra alternative and ice time to indicate what they'll do," ahead Tommy Novak added about Crosby. "Everybody desires that (so as) to step up and do one thing good for the group. At the moment was an excellent instance of that."