Responding to a topic that has grown legs on the Internet, Penguins center Sidney Crosby talked about his decision to decline an invitation last week to present the Top Ten List on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”
He pointed to a packed schedule that week coming off his golden moment at the Olympics in Vancouver, including March 3, when the Penguins flew to New York for a game the next night against the Rangers and where Letterman tapes his show.
The Post Gazette has a quote from Sid’s agent, explaining why he didn’t appear on Letterman:
“His schedule was full,” Crosby’s agent Pat Brisson, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday night. “I talk to the league on a regular basis, and the league couldn’t be more thrilled having Sidney Crosby do all the stuff he does,” Brisson said.
This is really being made into a bigger deal than it has to be. I was still holding out hope he’d say it was because Sid was on Team Coco. 
Full article below:
Sometimes, a situation calls for a player to overlook who is wearing what color of jersey. Crosby made an effort to settle down friend, part-time Olympics linemate and Boston center Patrice Bergeron while Bruins center Marc Savard was taken off on a stretcher in the third period after a hit by the Penguins’ Matt Cooke.
“It’s a terrible situation when you’ve got a guy hurt like that,” Crosby said. “They’re upset seeing a teammate and a friend lying there. For the odd time probably, I’m just trying to make things a little bit calmer over there.”
A Penguins teammate told Sidney Crosby about the $10,000 reward dangled by Reebok Canada over the weekend for the safe return of Crosby’s wayward Olympic equipment. He is hoping the offer works.
“I appreciate them wanting to help me,” Crosby said Sunday after he had an assist in a 2-1 win against Boston at Mellon Arena.
The missing items are the stick and gloves he used when he scored the winning goal in overtime Feb. 28 to give Canada a 3-2 win against the United States in the gold-medal game in Vancouver. He tossed them during the immediate celebration, and they were nowhere to be found when equipment was sorted a little later.
They have been Sidney Crosby’s teammates for nearly five seasons now.
They have sweated and struggled and celebrated with him.
They have absorbed crushing disappointments together, and shared the greatest high their game can offer.
Could be that Dallas left winger Jamie Benn is a pretty easy guy to hate, once you get to know him.
That Matt Niskanen can be an absolute scoundrel, and that Nicklas Grossman brings out the worst in anyone who gets near him.
But, if any of that is true, the Penguins don’t know it.
The Penguins won their third game in a row, 6-3, over the Dallas Stars today at Mellon Arena.
They have not lost in regulation in their past six games.
The Penguins opened the scoring with a well-executed, rink-long play. Sergei Gonchar, from the end boards, threw a pass to Matt Cooke in front of the Penguins bench. He sent a touch pass to Jordan Staal cutting through the neutral zone. Staal caught up with the puck around the blue line for a breakaway.
With the Stars’ Jeff Woywitka sweeping at the puck from behind, Staal slid it under the stick of Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen to make it 1-0 at 2:11 of the first period.
It has been nearly a week since Sidney Crosby scored the overtime goal that gave Canada a 3-2 victory against the United States in the gold-medal game at the Vancouver Olympics.
That’s long enough for him to absorb at least some of the impact of what he did and also, one might suspect, to no longer be riding the adrenaline rush that accompanied his moment of triumph.
But a few hours before the Penguins faced the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden Thursday night, Crosby said he really hasn’t experienced a letdown, physically or emotionally, since returning to his regular job.
“You definitely have to push yourself and make sure, mentally, that you’re sharp, and that you’re working on things and that you stay as fresh as you can,” he said.
“It’s a challenge, but [there's] not a letdown. It’s something that’s a little more challenging than a typical season at this point.”
The New York Rangers scored on four of their first 12 shots Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, so the Penguins responded with a couple of perfectly logical moves.
First, coach Dan Bylsma replaced goalie Marc-Andre Fleury — who looked very much like a guy who hadn’t been in a game for more than 2 1/2 weeks — with Brent Johnson.
Then, just to be safe, Johnson’s teammates pretty much decided they wouldn’t allow the Rangers to get any more shots on goal.
(It wasn’t much of a day off really since he did a lot of press yesterday. )
Fleury and defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who played for Russia in Vancouver, practiced, but the Penguins’ other Olympians were given the day off.
They are center Sidney Crosby, defenseman Brooks Orpik and center Evgeni Malkin.
“I don’t quite think they’ve been able to get back on the time schedule, even playing [Tuesday] night, so [this was] a day for them to catch some rest that a lot of us got in the break,” Bylsma said.
