Be A Hero, Crosby !

36 press credentials, 20+ cameras, and 3 TV networks all crammed themselves into "the Igloo" in the Steel City. Supposedly all for one man, Sid the kid.

There were many questions built up for tonight’s game against the Montréal Canadiens coming off a road loss to the Atlanta Thrashers. It was speculated yesterday that Thibault was going to get the start in place of the overworked Caron, but the decision was made definite after Caron had come up with an injury.

Jocelyn Thibault was solid in tonight’s game stopping veteran goal scorers in Koivu and Kovalev. As the game wore on, Thibault was gaining confidence, the kind that is sorely needed after the poor personal start. He made some visual recognition of key saves during the stops in play. He was also physically animated at the very end stopping Perezhogin in the final shootout attempt.

The hero of the night was Sidney Crosby who grew up watching the Montréal Canadiens. His dad was once drafted in the mid 80s, but he assured the Penguins fans that they were now Black and Gold all the way tonight. Crosby scored a powerplay goal in the first period using all the extra adrenalin and Francis Bouillon's skate. That kept up the efforts for two periods and included the Penguins captain Mario Lemieux with a great shot from a Pallfy pass.

However, there was no time to celebrate getting down to the two minute mark as the Canadiens knew how to cycle themselves out of a hole. Higgins scored late in the game to take things into overtime. When the 5 minute OT solved nothing, it was time to take it to a shootout.

When Recchi and Lemieux both came up short, it all came down to Sidney Crosby's efforts to be a hero. With the building electrified with cheers, Sidney threw a backhand shot up at the top of the goal and over Jose Theodore's glove side. The voice of the Penguins, Mike Lange had the call for one amazing goal and with his Hall of Fame voice recorded team history as well as "The Next One's" personal career history.

Other notables.... John LeClair had come back to the lineup after sustaining a facial injury wore a full mask face shield. Mario Lemieux took a whack in the face after Mathieu Dandenault's follow-through to clear the puck. Lemieux would just shake it off with no apparent injury. Steve Begin lowered the boom on rookie Max Talbot which no face shield could have prevented. That action cost him a 5 minute major and a game misconduct following for smacking his own stick on the glass.

[Via: Yahoo! Sports]