Crosby takes a hit and keeps on scoring

Sidney Crosby showed he could take a hit and keep on scoring in his comeback after more than 10 months with post-concussion injuries, sparking the Pittsburgh Penguins to an NHL triumph. The 24-year-old Canadian superstar scored to goals and assisted on two more in a 5-0 home victory over the New York Islanders on Monday and showed he could take a hit when flattened by New York's Travis Hamonic in the first period. "I'm glad I kind of got that over with early on," Crosby said. "There's going to be more hits and probably harder ones." Crosby had battled blurry vision, fogginess that made driving or watching television difficult and migraine headaches at times during his recovery. But after being knocked down, he rose and went back to work. Having already netted one goal on a spectacular drive to the ice with a backhand shot, he assisted on two more and scored the final goal unassisted in the third period. "There was a fair amount of contact out there for him and he just seemed to thrive on thatsituation and came away with the puck and skate away," said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma sai. "After the first time I saw him skate off the ice, I kind of stopped worrying about that situation. "I don't really have good words for it. That was special in a lot of ways." Crosby had not played an NHL game in 320 days since taking two hard blows to the head in the opening days of the year, the second on January 5 from Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman that ended his 2010-2011 season early. He had been the NHL's scoring leader at the time of his injury but probably will not reach such lofty numbers in this campaign, having already miseed the first six weeks of the 2011-2012 season. Crosby's injury prompted an NHL crackdown on hits to the head and there was concern that a player who became the face of the league might never play again. Crosby clinched his iconic role in Canada after leading Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup in 2009 and scoring the golden goal for Canada in the final of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics against the United States.