Isles' plan to defend Sidney Crosby working well through first four playoff games

Defending Sidney Crosby is more than a one-man, one-line, or one-defense pair job.

The Penguins' superstar center is the leader in playoff scoring among active players, with 190 points in 172 games entering Game 5 of Pittsburgh’s first-round series against the Islanders Monday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. And Crosby, 33, is second in scoring among active players (behind 41-year-old Joe Thornton), with 1,325 points in 1,039 regular-season games over 16 seasons.

You don’t stop a guy like that, as the saying goes. You only hope to contain him. And the Islanders have made the task of containing Crosby a whole-team thing, with all four forward lines and all three defense pairs getting turns against the Penguins' captain throughout the first four games of the series, which were split, 2-2.

"I mean, it has to be done by committee,’’ Islanders forward Josh Bailey said of keeping Crosby in check. "It's important for all of us to be on the same page, and working together, and doing what we need to do to limit their opportunities.’’

Islanders coach Barry Trotz, who has faced Crosby in many playoff series -- both with the Islanders and with the Washington Capitals -- was asked if running all these different defenders at Crosby was by design, or by circumstance.

"Sometimes it's dictated on shift-length situation, rotation, [the question of] ‘Do I have the last change, or do they have the last change?’’’ Trotz said. "But we've always tried to approach all good players the same way; you've got to make sure that when you're against them you have to respect them, and you have to be on the right side. You have to make them make good plays through you, and take pride in going against those top players. And I think we have four lines that take pride in doing that.’’

Through the first four games, Crosby, the No. 1 pick overall in the 2005 draft, had been limited to a single point – a brilliant, tip-in goal in the Islanders 4-3 OT win in Game 1. His wingers, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust, each had been held to one point in the series as well. Guentzel got an assist on Crosby’s goal, while Rust scored the first goal in the Penguins’ Game 2 victory – the soft wrist shot from above the right circle that Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov inexplicably missed.

The most significant play Crosby made before Monday in the series was when he dove across the slot to lunge and get his stick blade on Brock Nelson’s shot, deflecting it over the crossbar and preventing Nelson from scoring the tying goal late in the Penguins’ Game 3 win.

According to Trotz, the plan against Crosby – who he’s praised effusively, calling him "the gold standard’’ – is the same, regardless of who is out there against him. But, the coach acknowledges, each line will execute the plan a little differently.

"Everybody has different styles,’’ Trotz said. "I mean, a guy like Casey Cizikas is probably a little more physical than Mathew Barzal, so they all have their own individual styles. Casey can't do what Matthew does, so, just use your strengths against their top players.

"But make sure that you respect them, and make them have to go through you all the time.’’

The longer the series goes, though, the more likely it is Crosby will eventually break out. The odds are simply against the Islanders being able to keep him under wraps for the entire series.

But if they are to ultimately win the series and advance to the next round against the Boston Bruins, the Isles are most likely going to have to beat those odds.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.