Crosby was worried

Captain Sidney Crosby played at Atlanta, but admitted he went to bed Friday with his status in doubt.

“I guess it was a possibility (Friday), but it wasn’t (yesterday),” he said.

Crosby did not practice Friday because he is battling flu-like symptoms. He has played in each of the Penguins’ 23 games — something only nine players can claim.

No one bought a ticket to this game because Martin Skoula was playing in it.

Not even if he had blood relatives in the crowd.

The 17,588 fans came to see Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby on one side, Ilya Kovalchuk and Maxim Afinogenov on the other. Jordan Staal and Zach Bogosian, too. And Marc-Andre Fleury and Evander Kane.

A lot of them likely did not realize that Skoula would be in uniform. And that assumes they knew who he is to begin with.

But it should not have taken those folks long to figure it out, however, because Skoula scored the Penguins’ first and second goals in what became a 3-2 victory against Atlanta at Philips Arena last night.

The game was Skoula’s 738th in the NHL, but it might have been the first in which he got more than one goal.