Sidney Crosby scores after returning from concussion (Video)

Sidney Crosby scored in his first game since suffering a concussion as a way of putting the rest of the league on notice.

The Pittsburgh Penguins may be deep, but Sidney Crosby is what makes them a championship-caliber team. And they had to make do without him for the first two weeks because he suffered a concussion prior to the season. They got off to a 3-3 start, with their latest loss being a 5-1 beating at the hands of the Nashville Predators.

For someone who suffered a concussion, returning after six games might seem like rushing back into action. It’s unlikely that Crosby is operating at 100%, but he doesn’t need to be in order to score goals:

It may have been a power play goal, but the release was vintage Crosby. Poor James Reimer never stood a chance.

Having Sidney Crosby out for the first two weeks of the season while Connor McDavid was lighting it up gave fans an excuse to call the 19-year-old better than him. While McDavid is already a top five player in the league, and will eventually overtake Crosby, the Penguins star is coming off a season where he won the Cup and the Conn Smythe. He’s still the best player in the world, and anyone who says otherwise is simply jealous.

Having Crosby back fixes some of the Penguins’ problems immediately. Even though they scored at will in the playoffs, they’ve had trouble doing so to start this season – they have yet to score more than three goals in a game. Their defense took a hit when Kris Letang got hurt as well, but getting Crosby back eases the pain a little.

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Crosby has had a history of injury problems. It’s why his numbers have taken a steady decline, and why people were concerned when he went down again. But if he’s already scoring upon immediately returning, the league better watch out for when he’s fully recovered.