Let’s face it. Sidney Crosby is for real. Until last Tuesday night, many Minnesota Wild fans were hoping he was an urban myth, but Crosby flew around the Xcel Energy Center ice, like Haley’s comet, handing the Wild another loss.  The plan was for Wes Walz and his Wild linemates to keep the puck in the Pittsburgh end as often as possible. Get it deep and try to make their counterparts play defense. It worked well in the first period. Not so well after that.

"We were trying to keep them down there, trying to play in their end as much as we could," Walz said. "That guy is something special," Walz said of Crosby. "Probably the one thing he never gets enough credit for is his competitiveness. He plays a very competitive game."

Sidney Crosby may only be 20 years old, but he is the Pittsburgh Penguins captain and with good reason. In just his third season in the NHL, the 5-foot-11 Crosby already has 239 points in 171 games and he made his inaugural professional visit to the Xcel Energy Center a memorable night with a four-point performance.

"The Crosby line was on fire tonight," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said.

On fire they were. On fire they were. Let’s hope the Wild can make their own fire in the next few games. The Xcel was sold out with an overflow attendance of 18,568 fans and I know Minnesota ticket brokers made a few bucks on this big event even though the Wild are on a losing streak.