Crosby shines in Pens scrimmage with 3 assists
PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby needed all of a half period to get his name on the training camp score sheet.
Crosby, the NHL's No. 1 draft pick and a prospect many are comparing to the likes of Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, had a game-high three assists in leading his team to a 4-1 victory in a camp game Thursday.
"I've watched him skate a little in the past week, and I know how good he is," said Lemieux, the Penguins' owner-player who is on Crosby's camp team but did not play in the game. "But once you step onto the ice and start playing, it can be a little different. But I wasn't surprised with how well he played."
Lemieux scored on the first shot of his first shift of his first regular-season game against Boston in October 1984. Penguins assistant general manager Eddie Johnston was the club's GM at the time, and he remembers Lemieux dazzling the first time he stepped on the ice for an intrasquad scrimmage.
"Mario came down the ice and went right through everyone and scored," Johnston said.
Lemieux has no such recollection.
"Really?" he asked. "Maybe. It was probably the second period."
What is clear is that Crosby left an indelible impression on his new teammates and the several hundred fans at Mellon Arena. Playing with veteran linemates Mark Recchi and John LeClair, the 18-year-old Crosby had a hand in all of his team's goals but one on his second full day of training camp.
"He's going to do some things that, obviously, some people can't do," Recchi said.
Recchi was the beneficiary of two Crosby assists, the second a model example of the vision and instincts that allowed Crosby to accumulate 183 assists in 121 junior games.
"The defensemen went down and got out of position," Crosby said, relating what went through his mind as he had the puck in the right face-off circle. "So then the goalie had no choice but to play the shot so I knew Mark had an open shot. I gave him a quick look and got him the puck."
Crosby's pass to set up Jonathan Filewich's second goal might have been even better. Skating down the boards through the neutral zone, Crosby flipped a pass over a defenseman's stick almost directly onto the blade of Filewich, who took advantage of a clear path to the net to beat goalie Sebastien Caron.
"He somehow knew I was there and made a heck of a pass," Filewich said. "It was a great play by Sidney. He's special."
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press
