Crosby thanks for compliments

From NHL.com

Crosby: Thanks for the compliments

RALEIGH, N.C. -- With the way that Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have dominated the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- and particularly the first three games of the Eastern Conference Finals -- it was inevitable that the pair would be compared to some of the other dynamic duos in hockey history.

The obvious link is to Pittsburgh's own past, where Mario Lemieux, now the team's owner, and Jaromir Jagr became mythic figures while leading the Penguins to two Stanley Cups.

With Crosby leading the Stanley Cup Playoffs in goals (14) and Malkin leading in points (28), it has become easier to make comparisons to Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, the linchpins of the Edmonton Oilers’ dynasty.

Crosby has drawn comparisons to Gretzky since his time as a teen prodigy back in Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia, so this kind of hoopla is nothing new to him. Monday, he cautioned against the media getting too over-the-top in its analysis.

"I think for me, I can only speak for myself, but I've dealt with that for a long time comparisons and things like that," Crosby said. "It's a compliment, but we don't want to read a whole lot into it.

"We want to make sure, as far as myself and Geno go, that we're contributing, and if we're looking at that then we're doing something right. I don't think we need to change anything, but it's a compliment."

For it to be anything more than just a compliment, Crosby says he has to do something all of the aforementioned players did. Simply, Crosby must lift the Stanley Cup over his head to be worthy of such comparisons.

"Well, these guys won," Crosby said. "They've won championships. We haven't done that. So, like I said, it's a compliment, but at the same time we still have a lot to prove, so, we've got to keep doing the same thing."

-- Shawn P. Roarke

You know what, for some reason I never thought of the Lemieux/Jagr tandem when we talk about Crosby/Malkin. Definitely an interesting connection with Crosby and Lemieux's relationship, Crosby/Lemieux taking the leadership role over Jagr/Malkin, and both Jagr and Malkin are Europeans to the 2 Canadians.