Roberts excited to play with Crosby, Penguins
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Gary Roberts skated with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ best in his first practice with his new team. The veteran winger took a place on the Penguins’ top line with Mark Recchi and NHL scoring leader Sidney Crosby on Wednesday morning.
“I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to play with a kid like Crosby and obviously, Recchi,” said Roberts, who will turn 41 in May. “I have known him and played against him for years and know the type of competitor he is. I’m real excited about the opportunity, and hopefully I can help them out a bit.”
The Penguins’ top three goal scorers are rookie Evgeni Malkin, who is 20, Crosby, who is 19, and 18-year-old rookie Jordan Staal. Recchi is fourth with 22, and Roberts had 13 goals in 50 games with the Florida Panthers.
Pittsburgh acquired Roberts from Florida for minor league defenseman Noah Welch on Tuesday, one of five trades the Penguins made that day. The two other NHL players heading to the team – winger Georges Laraque and defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski – were to join the Penguins in New York, where they play the Rangers on Thursday.
Roberts has a 17-year-old daughter and was a rookie during the final season of former Penguins center Greg Malone. Roberts took the place formerly held by Malone’s son Ryan on the Penguins’ top line.
“As you get older, you obviously tend to play with younger players. Hopefully, it’ll keep me young for a few more years,” Roberts said.
He has 424 career goals, including 53 during the 1991-92 season with the Calgary Flames. He was playing on a line with Panthers’ leading scorer Olli Jokinen with Florida, and in the past has been paired with standouts Joe Nieuwendyk and Ron Francis.
“He plays a simple game,” Crosby said. “He’s always going to the net, creating space with his physical play. He’s got a strong forecheck and chases pucks. … Watching him will help me.”
Penguins coach Michel Therrien warned against looking too much into the line pairings of a practice and said the combinations could change in an effort to find the right chemistry for a team that had not lost in regulation in 16 games before losing three of the past four. The skid has dropped the Penguins 11 points behind the Atlantic Division-leading New Jersey Devils.
“We have had difficulty scoring 5-on-5 recently,” Therrien said. “Hopefully, the line changes will produce more offensively.”