Get ready, Caps fans, because you are about to get a heavy dose of Sidney Crosby and the Penguins over the next three weeks. The two teams meet at Verizon Center on Dec. 23 and again in the annual Winter Classic on New Year’s Day in Pittsburgh. Plus, HBO’s cameras have been following the Caps and Penguins for weeks in preparation for a behind-the-scenes “Hard Knocks”-style show that will lead into the Winter Classic.
The network will document a Hart Trophy race that is quickly turning into a rout. Crosby has scored an astounding 11 goals in his last six games and now has 26 on the season. Entering play on Thursday, that was five goals more than Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos and 14 more than Alex Ovechkin.
In the points race, Crosby has 50 — 10 more than second-place Stamkos and 15 more than Ovechkin. And he’s doing this with key teammates Evgeni Malkin (knee) and Jordan Staal (broken hand) battling injuries and a relatively anonymous group of veteran wingers brought in over the last three seasons by Pittsburgh’s front office.
Crosby is on pace for a 137-point season. The last time anyone reached even 130 points in a season was 1995-96 when — wait for it — Penguins great Mario Lemieux posted a historic 161. No one has topped 127 since — and that was Jaromir Jagr in 2000-01. And, yes, that was his last season in Pittsburgh before the Caps decided to bring his talents to Washington via trade. We all know how well that move worked out, don’t we?
Going to be tough for Ovechkin to match this kind of run by Crosby. Not that he can’t get hot, too. But — at least offensively — the Caps don’t need their star to carry them and can get away with a nine-game goal drought and still thrive. No other Penguins forward has more than 22 points.
