Mark Spector

PITTSBURGH - On Wednesday, Mark Messier presented his Leadership Award to Toronto Maple Leaf captain Mats Sundin, whose team hasn’t played a playoff game in four years. Later that night, 20-year-old Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby hosted a tutorial on the topic.

Crosby turned in a Messier-like performance in Game 3 of his first Stanley Cup finals, who did what a true leader does in this game — namely grabbing his teammates by the scruff of their collective neck and hauling them to a 3-2 victory in a game they had to have.

Crosby scored twice — his team’s first two goals of this series — and breathed life into a team that lay prone after a pair of shutouts in Detroit.

“For sure we needed this one,” admitted Crosby, whose first goal snapped a Pittsburgh goal-less skein of 153 minutes and 22 seconds. When the puck crossed the goal line, he simply thought, “Finally. It wasn't that the chances weren't there. It was that one just finally went in for us.”

Two rounds ago, when Pittsburgh’s second-line center Evgeni Malkin was lighting it up against the New York Rangers, there was much discussion over which young Penguins center was better.

Crosby or Malkin?

But Malkin went cold — he now has but two points in his last seven games — while Crosby’s game headed in the other direction. Even during the first two games in Detroit he was undoubtedly Pittsburgh’s best player, and Crosby proved that time-worn hockey cliche that says, as long as you’re still getting scoring chances, something will eventually go in.

“I mean, we would hit posts and didn't have bounces that came on our stick near the net,” Crosby said. “And finally, we had one go in. It felt good to get one in, to get the first one and get momentum and start off the game.”

To hear Crosby tell it, you’d think it was pure luck.

It's simply a big-game player producing in a big game.

It’s no excuse when players like Crosby find their team down 0-2 in a Stanley Cup finals. Like Reggie Jackson’s World Series home runs, like Tom Brady’s Super Bowl numbers, it happens for a reason.

Slideshow   2008 Stanley Cup finals Images from Red Wings-Penguins series more photos

That reason is that Crosby gets better as the games get more important, the trademark of a player whose name likely will end up on Lord Stanley’s mug often during his career.

“There is no doubt,” said Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien, “that you’re looking for your best player to bring his ‘A’ game. Certainly, Sid did that tonight.

“I thought he played well for the first two games,” Therrien continued. “Sometimes the results are not always there. You can’t judge players on goals and assists. That’s what you’re looking for from your captain: Show an example.”

What happens now that Pittsburgh is down 2-1? Who knows?

This win was only the first small step of a long, uphill climb, but this young Penguins club has specialized in doing things much, much faster than the so-called experts predict.

“For a lot of these players this is their first win in a Stanley Cup final, and it’s huge for them,” Therrien pointed out. “Huge for their confidence. There was no panic — I like the way we played. Confidence-wise, that’s a huge lift for those young kids.”

A popular comparison these Penguins have been hearing has them stacked up against the ‘83 Oilers — ironically, Messier’s first Stanley Cup finals. Both were said to be teams who weren’t quite ready to win the big prize, going up against veteran squads that were.

Those Oilers had been swept by the New York Islanders in ‘83, and their captain — Wayne Gretzky — did not score a goal in the series.

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