By MATT VENSEL

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

Three days remained in a Penguins season that was lost a long time ago, and there Sidney Crosby was Tuesday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, battling bigger and younger players in the corner, celebrating teammates’ goals, dialing in his wrister.

Thursday’s finale against the Washington Capitals means nothing in the standings. But to Crosby, Tuesday’s practice was another chance to build toward the ultimate goal, even though the Penguins came nowhere close to the Stanley Cup this season.

“There’s a standard that we try to have and that we bring every day, and hopefully we can live up to that. But that’s not anything that’s given. You’ve got to do it every single day,” Crosby said later. “And today’s an opportunity to hopefully get better.”

Crosby once again set the bar incredibly high this season. At age 37, he topped 30 goals for the fourth straight season. His 89 points ranked 11th in the NHL entering Tuesday. He remains dynamite on draws and routinely matches up with top talent.

For the third straight year, his individual brilliance didn’t translate to a postseason appearance for Pittsburgh. But once again, it led to praise from his fellow players.

The NHLPA on Tuesday released its annual player poll. The captain finished first in three categories. Not only did NHL players name Crosby the smartest player and say they would trust him most to win a faceoff, they also voted him as the league’s most complete player. It was the sixth straight year he got that particular honor.

After the sweat-soaked center sat down at his locker Tuesday, Crosby was asked which of those three results from the NHLPA player poll resonated most with him.

“I’m just hearing this now, so … “ he said, asking a reporter to rattle off the list again.

Crosby considered it briefly before making an interesting comment about his future.

“I’ll go complete,” Crosby said. “I don’t want to think about a final faceoff quite yet.”

No, at minimum, Crosby plans to play out the final two years of his contract. He will contemplate his next steps then. His health permitting, it is reasonable to think he will still be an impact player at 40, though a point per game might be pushing it.

And by all accounts, his commitment to the Penguins hasn’t wavered this season.

Still, coach Mike Sullivan said all this losing “has been a hard experience for Sid.”

“None of us are where we want to be [as a team],” Sullivan said. “He’s handled it extremely well. He controls what he can. That’s his own approach every day. His determination to be the best, you guys see it on display every night as well as I do.”

Bennett/Getty Images/TNS Crosby admitted losing is a “challenge.” It is not just the losses themselves, he said, but also the “trickle-down” effect that has led to longtime teammates such as Jake Guentzel and Marcus Pettersson getting traded away and a revolving door on the roster. The Penguins have already used 42 different players this season.

“There’s a lot of things not to like about losing,” Crosby said, his voice trailing off.

The Penguins no-showed their last game, a loss Sunday to the Boston Bruins. But for the most part, they have been pretty competitive in the season’s final stretch.

Crosby said it is important for the Penguins to try to maintain a winning standard.

“You have to have pride in what you do, no matter what it is,” he said. “And as much as there are frustrations and it’s tough and difficult, in the big scheme of things, we’re still pretty fortunate to do what we do. So you keep that in the back of your mind.”

With the Penguins pacing toward their worst record since Crosby’s rookie year, he wasn’t in the mood to talk too much about the results of that NHLPA player poll.

While Crosby does appreciate getting recognition from the guys he battles against every night, saying “it means a lot,” he stated he was hardly perfect this year.

“You’re always trying to learn. You’re always trying to get better. If that allows you to be in the conversation for that, then obviously you’re doing something right,” Crosby said. “But I don’t think about that a whole lot. I’m like minus-20-something.”

His minus-22 rating is by far the worst of his career. He was a minus-8 in 2019-20.

Regardless, Crosby has once again been the team’s best player and leading scorer.

With one game left in the season, Crosby wants the Penguins to end on a high note.

That’s why he was out there working his tail off in Tuesday’s practice. That’s one thing Crosby can control, and to remain great, he believes he cannot take a day off.

“You’re always trying to get better, find different areas of your game that you can improve, no matter how long you’ve played,” he said. “[Winning is] the motivation behind it, not necessarily always individual things. There’s things you believe are going to help translate into wins. So that’s why you do it. You hope that’s the case.”