For the last couple of games, Sidney Crosby has been saying that he is happy with his game and the way that he has been playing. In fairness to 'The Kid', he's played very well, had a lot of jump and been dynamic. In Game 3, he got away from some unfavourable matchups and got the puck in the back of the net a couple of times.
Crosby basically sent a message to his teammates and all the Penguins fans in this game and it was this: 'Jump on my back, we're gonna go on a ride here.' That is what you have come to expect in great hockey players like Crosby. He scored twice in the game, taking the pressure off his teammates while giving them confidence. Only defenceman Sergei Gonchar played more minutes in the first period.
I don't want to say that I'm surprised, because I'm not. Here's a kid that has already won a Hart Trophy and an Art Ross trophy at the age of 19. Now he's 20 on the biggest stage, the Stanley Cup Final on home ice and he simply blew everyone away with his play, just like Mario Lemieux used to do.
Holmstrom Injured
Penguins' head coach Michel Therrien said he was a little concerned that defenceman Hal Gill took two cross-checking penalties on the Wings' Tomas Holmstrom because of Detroit's potent power play.
Holmstrom was seen limping as he left the building after Game 3. Right now, the Wings are saying that it is a lower-body injury and it may, in fact, be a knee injury sustained when Gill flipped him into the net.
You knew that Holmstrom was hurt on the play because on the next Wings' man-advantage a couple of minutes later, he wasn't able to go. He did not play another shift following the Gill hit. The good news for the Wings is that there are two days off before Game 4 on Saturday.