Regrets, Crosby Has a Few; ‘It’s Up to Us to Get Back There’

In the moments we don’t see, after the arena lights and the reporters’ camera lights go out, Sidney Crosby has time to reflect after games. Too many times this season, there were regrets.

“I feel like, if I had to summarize it, there were a lot of games walking out of the rink at the end of the night where I felt like we could have won,” Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain, said Friday as the team cleaned out its lockers and began to scatter for the offseason after missing the playoffs for the third straight year.

“Felt pretty good about our game, but made either costly mistakes at bad times or some nights we didn’t find a way to finish when we had a lot of shots, a lot of chances. It was different things.”

Blown leads, giving up first-shot goals, faring poorly in overtime and shootouts all helped lead to a sub-.500 record and another idle spring.

Crosby did his part to help as much as possible. At age 37, he led the team with 91 points, hit several milestones and got a couple honors, and generally played dominant, high-skill hockey.

Still, Crosby saw an opportunity wasted.

“If we found a way to be on the other side of that, things could have been different pretty quickly. You saw the Eastern Conference and the logjam with so many teams trying to get in for those final (playoff) spots. We could have been right there with a few wins.”

Instead, Crosby stood in short sleeves and with bare feet to meet with reporters Friday.

“It’s tough,” he said. “It’s difficult when you’re cleaning out your locker stall and you’re just thinking how fun it is to play in the playoffs and how important that is and how much work everyone puts in to trying to make that happen. It’s not a fun feeling when other guys are playing and you’re going home.”

Crosby has led the Penguins to three Stanley Cups. He, fellow center Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang, all in their late 30s, have set a North American pro sports record playing as teammates for 19 seasons.

He knows that, without a sniff of the postseason since 2022, there will be thoughts of the window closing on the longtime teammates and friends making a long playoff run together again.

In fact, he expounded on that at length.

“Missing the playoffs the last few years, there are always going to be thoughts and opinions,” he said. “We’ve got to prove it. We’ve got to find a way to get back there. It takes a lot of different things, but I think teams have proven that you can turn it around pretty quickly.”

He cited Montreal getting back to the playoffs and Washington rocketing to the top of the Eastern Conference.

“I think that’s encouraging, but when you lose you’re going to hear (the questions), and that’s part of what sucks about losing. But it’s up to us to find a way to get back there,” Crosby said.

Of course, those three will need help.

“Defensively, we’ve just got to find a way to be better, stingier on a nightly basis,” he said. “That always gives you a chance when there are nights when you’re squeezing the stick a bit and it’s not going in. If you defend and you allow yourself to hang around, then you’ve got a chance and you’re in every game.”

Crosby said an improved power play this season and an influx of talented, upbeat youth – particularly Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen — were among the reasons for optimism.

“I think the younger guys that came up late, you see how they’re doing and their commitment and their game, and I think that’s definitely promising,” Crosby said. “That’s something that takes time and patience, but it’s encouraging to see the way that they played.”