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Sidney Crosby made one thing perfectly clear this week. He wasn’t nearly as concerned about winning the Hart Memorial Trophy as NHL MVP as he was about beating the Chicago Blackhawks Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena.

He isn’t concerned as much about winning another Art Ross Trophy as the league’s scoring leader as he is about the Penguins finishing strong and winning as many of their seven remaining games as possible before the playoffs.

“I want to be at my best and I want to win,” Crosby said. “If those things come with it, then great. But I don’t think you necessarily have to focus on them. When I’m out there, I just play.”

I get it, Sid.

A captain always cares more about his team than himself.

But that’s not going to stop me from taking a quick break from fretting about the Penguins’ chances in a first-round playoff series against Columbus unless they get healthy to look at Crosby’s chances of getting all the regular-season recognition that he deserves.

Crosby seems like a lock to win the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as NHL goals leader for the second time, ending Washington’sAlex Ovechkin’s four-season grip on the award. Crosby’s 42 goals led Tampa Bay’sNikita Kucherov’s 38 going into Wednesday night. “You know he wants 50. He’s pushing for it,” Marc-Andre Fleury said of Crosby. Ovechkin is the only player to get 50 in a season since Evgeni Malkin did it in 2011-12.

Crosby has a good chance to be the NHL’s points-per-game leader for the seventh time. Through games Monday, his 1.19 average was just ahead of Kucherov’s 1.18, Edmonton’sConnor McDavid’s 1.17 and Malkin’s 1.16.

Crosby has much less chance of winning the Ross for the third time. His 82 points were tied for second with Chicago’s Patrick Kane’s 82 behind McDavid’s 89. Crosby won the award in 2014 and 2007.

Now, the big one …

The Hart is a two-man race between Crosby and McDavid, all due respect to Kucherov, Kane, Boston’s Brad Marchand, Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom and San Jose’s Brent Burns.

If I had a vote, I would vote for Crosby — and not because he plays for the Penguins. I’m not sure this hasn’t been his best overall season even if his stats don’t say that. He has played every game — 69 total — since missing the first six with a concussion. He has carried a team that has been sabotaged by injuries for the past month or so. Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Carl Hagelin, Kris Letang, Trevor Daley, Olli Maatta and Ron Hainsey have been out for significant time and won’t play against the Blackhawks. You could make a pretty good No. 1 line and two top defensive pairings out of those seven. The Penguins still have an outside chance of catching Washington and winning the brutal Metropolitan Division. Give Crosby much credit for that.

Unfortunately for Crosby, McDavid is the favorite for the Hart. He’s a terrific young player — just 20 — and showing why he long has been considered the NHL’s next “It” player. Long-time hockey observers will tell you there’s never been a player who skates faster with the puck.

Thanks to McDavid — the Oilers captain — the team has clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2006. That will impress the Hart voters. It won’t help Crosby that he plays for a veteran team that won the Stanley Cup last season. The Penguins were expected to win this season. The Oilers are a pleasant surprise.

Crosby benefitted from that same thinking when he won the first of his two Harts in 2007. He had 36 goals and 120 points to lead the Penguins to the playoffs a season after they had just 58 points. He finished ahead of goaltenders Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur in the Hart voting, as well as forward Vincent Lecavalier, who scored 52 goals for Tampa Bay.

The Hart is supposed to go to the MVP, not necessarily the best player. Crosby is the best in the world, but the voters probably will look at McDavid and ask, “Where would the Oilers be without him?”

Much could change in the final 12 days of the regular season. If Crosby does get 50 goals, he would be hard to ignore for the Hart. But he might not get that chance. It wouldn’t be a shock or necessarily unwise if Mike Sullivan decides to give him at least one game off before the playoffs. Crosby could benefit from the rest considering he had such a short offseason, leading Canada to the World Cup before this season and the Penguins to the Stanley Cup last season.

Crosby said he isn’t paying much attention to the individual awards but did acknowledge Tuesday, “If you’re close down the stretch, you might as well make a run …”

Not that Crosby will lose sleep if he comes up short for the Hart and/or the Ross. There’s only one trophy that he really wants to win again.

Conn Smythe as postseason MVP.

The race for the Hart Trophy could come down to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby or Edmonton Oilers youngster Connor McDavid.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_Crosby-CMYK.jpg.optimal.jpgThe race for the Hart Trophy could come down to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby or Edmonton Oilers youngster Connor McDavid. Gene Puskar file photo | AP

By Ron Cook

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette