MONTREAL - You don’t have to look far to find Sidney Crosby’s name on the NHL scoring list.
He’s right at the top.
The Pittsburgh Penguins superstar is healthy, happy and back in the form that won him the league’s most valuable player award in 2007, which makes him a top candidate to win the league’s Hart Trophy for a second time this spring.
After a three-point effort in a wacky 7-6 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday at the Bell Centre, Crosby, who has 10 goals and 24 assists for 34 points in 22 games, moved two points ahead of Tampa Bay Lightning centre Steven Stamkos.
Crosby and Stamkos will go head-to-head Monday night at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
After battling concussion symptoms for parts of two seasons, the headaches that plagued Crosby are gone and his focus is getting the Penguins to the playoffs.
“It’s nice. When you’re not thinking about (the injuries) that’s pretty good,” said Crosby. “For (18 months) it was pretty hard not to think about it. To know that’s in the past and that I can focus on playing is nice.
“We’re playing so much hockey right now that it’s a lot of fun. I missed competing like that.”
And the game missed its best player, who is off to one of the best starts of his career with the midway point of the season arriving this week. He played only 63 games total in the two previous.
