Submitted by admin on Thu, 2005-10-06 20:00. ::
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Sidney Crosby knew there was a great unknown awaiting him in the NHL. A much longer and tougher schedule. Opponents who aren't impressed or awed by his Gretzky- and Lemieux-like production in juniors. Goaltenders like Martin Brodeur. The night Crosby waited for for so long - if an 18-year-old can wait long for anything - turned out to be just another night in goal for the game's acknowledged premier goaltender.
The NHL may have gone away for 16-plus months, but Brodeur's skill in net certainly didn't, even if there are promising young players such as Crosby to greet him on his return.
Brodeur made 36 saves, many of them during Pittsburgh's 10 failed power plays, to spoil Crosby's NHL debut for the Penguins in a 5-1 victory by the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night that turned out to be a showcase for another rookie.
Zach Parise, the No. 17 overall pick in the 2003 draft, had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut for New Jersey to upstage Crosby, who settled for a lone assist that got him onto his first NHL scoresheet but didn't leave him all that pleased.
"I'm in the NHL, so obviously I'm happy," said Crosby, the NHL's most prized prospect since the player he now plays alongside, Mario Lemieux. "But you play to win."
Crosby needed barely a minute to be introduced to Brodeur, the goaltender who has led the Devils to three Stanley Cup championships. Walking out of the corner with the puck, Crosby threw a nifty backhander on net as he tried to replicate Hall of Famer Lemieux's first-game feat by scoring on the first shot of his first NHL shift.
As Crosby explained afterward, junior goalies would have gone for his first move, but Brodeur patiently waited him out and casually smothered a shot Crosby wasn't able to elevate.
There was a lot of head-shaking by the Penguins, who, despite sinking millions into a summertime rebuilding project largely made possible by their drafting of Crosby, had little more success against Brodeur than they did during three consecutive losing seasons from 2001-04. On this night, even new additions Mark Recchi, John LeClair, Sergei Gonchar and Ziggy Palffy didn't make much of a difference.
Crosby's debut wasn't a shutout as he made an excellent pass to set up Recchi's power-play goal in the third period. But the Devils already led by four goals, and later got a fifth goal as Sergei Brylin and Brian Gionta each scored twice.
And the game's unofficial rookie of the game wasn't Crosby but Parise, who is three years older than Crosby at 21. Parise drew the biggest reaction of the night from the less-than-sellout crowd of 18,101 by making it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 19:25 of the second, scoring off Gionta's rebound.
"You want to get the first one out of the way," Parise said. "It's awesome. It was kind of a blur, but it's also a weight off your shoulders."
"You have to enjoy it - it only happens once in your life," Crosby said of the advice his father, Sid, gave to him. "But I've always played to win."
The Penguins went 1-for-11 on the power play, even with Hall of Famer Lemieux getting nearly 20 1/2 minutes of ice time on his 40th birthday and teaming at times with Crosby. ... The Penguins twice couldn't score with two-man advantages, one of 1:18 in the first period and the second of 1:21 in the third. ... Crosby had three shots, one in each period, during 15 minutes, 50 seconds of ice time. He won six of his 16 faceoffs.
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