Amid another lost season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the fire that drives Sidney Crosby still burns

PITTSBURGH — It is the penultimate practice in a largely frustrating season, one filled with baffling losses on the ice and crushing ones off it.

And yet there is Sidney Crosby, in the waning days of a season that marks the end of two full decades in the NHL, sprinting up and down the ice at the UMPC Lemieux Sports Complex. The Pittsburgh captain's 37-year-old legs are churning with the same ferocity typically found during the opening week of training camp.

The Penguins are in the midst of transition, and a rocky one at that. The playoffs — once a rite of spring in western Pennsylvania — will go on without one of the league's marquee clubs and one of the game's brightest stars for a third straight year.

Pittsburgh hasn't made it out of the first round since 2018. And while general manager Kyle Dubas has stockpiled an avalanche of draft picks he hopes will help speed up reboot, nothing is guaranteed.

Well, except for maybe one thing: the way Crosby goes about his business. Yes, the losing has been difficult. No, it doesn't give him cover to take a game, a practice or even a drill off. That is simply not Crosby's way.

The future Hall of Famer will finish the season by averaging at least a point a game for the 20th consecutive year, an NHL record. This week his peers voted him the league's most complete player and the smartest, too, a testament to the level of respect he commands even though the halcyon days of ''Sid The Kid'' are long gone and the flecks of gray poking out from under his helmet are more noticeable than they used to be.

‘No better mentor'

Asked what keeps that drive so fresh even now, when his legacy is secure and he could hardly be blamed for mailing it in for once, and Crosby shrugs.

''We're pretty fortunate to do what we do here,'' he said. ''And you know as much as I said that there's frustrations (and) it's tough and difficult, in the big scheme of things we're still pretty fortunate to do what we do. So I think you keep that in the back of your mind.''

While longtime running mate Evgeni Malkin has shown signs of slowing down — the Russian center who has long been the emotional yin to Crosby's cerebral yang will finish with the lowest point total of a season in which he's played at least 50 games — Crosby has not.

There Crosby was on Tuesday morning, one of the first players on the ice. There Crosby was battling with defenseman P.O. Joseph for a puck during a three-on-three drill. There Crosby was dropping down to do pushups with everyone else in a black jersey after ''losing'' to the gold squad.

The season thatcoach Mike Sullivan admitted has been difficult for Crosby in particular would be over in less than 72 hours. Watching the guy with the No. 87 in black stickers on top of his white practice helmet skate against teammates who grew up idolizing him, it was hard to tell.

Crosby was living out in real time what Dubas promised back in September, when he cited one of the main reasons he never considered a top-to-bottom strip down of the roster to jumpstart a rebuild he's never officially labeled as a rebuild was to allow the next wave of Penguin stars to watch Crosby go about his business.

''It's critical,'' Sullivan said. ''I think he's the standard for what it means to be a Pittsburgh Penguin. When these guys get an opportunity to be around him, they see how he carries himself every day. There's no better mentor, there's no example on how to be pro than to watch him.''

Even as Pittsburgh's slim postseason chances crumbled after the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off — where his smile was easy to see as he helped Team Canada claim the championship — Crosby continued to press on.

Crosby entered Pittsburgh's season finale against Washington and longtime foil Alex Ovechkin with 31 points in Pittsburgh's 24 games since the 4 Nations break. And while Ovechkin could consider retirement this summer after breaking Wayne Gretzky's mark for career goals, a part of Crosby's mind has already turned the page to next year.

‘Always trying to get better'

The chapter of Crosby's life when he could put the sticks away for a chunk of the summer and still be in the shape he expects of himself by the time training camp opens is gone.

''I really enjoyed that (break),'' Crosby said. ''I thought it was important to get away. I don't think I have that luxury anymore at my age ... It's better to kind of keep going at this point.''

Crosby signed an extension last fall that runs through 2027, when he will turn 40. Dubas has repeatedly stressed he plans to have Pittsburgh return to contention before Crosby ultimately steps away. The only person might know that timing is Crosby, who is almost pathologically incapable of talking about any sort of mile marker in his career — and there have been many at this point — until it happens.

The one thing for certain is that he has no desire to go out meekly. The weight of the team's collective failure this season is mostly centered on shaky defensive play and even shakier goaltending. Yet the next time Crosby will publicly call out a teammate will be the first, and his demeanor in the dressing room hasn't changed.

''For him, it hits harder than most because he's been here for his whole career, this is all he's known,'' goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic said. ''And all he has known really is (winning) and success, from Stanley Cups to gold medals to even at Four Nations, where he played so well.''

The finale against the playoff-bound Capitals was one last opportunity for Crosby to pull on his sweater this season. One final chance for PPG Paints Arena announcer Ryan Mill to draw out every syllable of his name during pre-game introductions. One more chance to feed the internal fire that still burns so brightly even now in the twilight.

Beginning Friday, Crosby will endure another summer that will seem interminable at times as the sport goes on without him. It's one of the reasons shortchanging the game he's helped redefine, even when there's nothing really at stake, is not an option.

''I think you're always trying to get better,'' he said. ''You know, find different areas of your game that you can improve no matter how long you play and ultimately those things hopefully translate to wins. That's the motivation behind it.''

The standard — the Sid standard — too.

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