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The Philadelphia Flyers took a pretty handy 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Wednesday night’s Game 3 to take a commanding 3-0 series lead, but there was plenty to talk about, including the first embellishment penalty of Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby’s career.
…No, you read that correctly.
Coming into the game, Crosby had played 21 NHL seasons and had never gotten the game for embellishment, until a bizarre sequence between whistles.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby lies on the ice after catching a high stick from Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway. He was also assessed a minor penalty for embellishment. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Flyers forward (and top-tier agitator, it must be said) Garnet Hathaway skated between Crosby and the linesman ahead of a faceoff in the Flyers’ defensive zone and was, let’s just say, “Careless” with his lumber.
There was no doubt it caught the Pens’ captain in the face, but there was also no doubt that it wasn’t hard enough to send Crosby sprawling to the ice as a sniper had fired from the rafters.
Both were sent to the box, and the game continued at 4-on-4.
After the game, Crosby offered his reaction to that incident and to another scrum involving teammate Bryan Rust a bit later that resulted in a Flyers power play and a power play goal.
PANTHERS’ MATTHEW TKACHUK’S TALKS GAME 3 CHAOS: ‘IF YOU HAVE TO TAKE A PUNCH IN THE FACE, TAKE IT’
“I don’t know how Rusty ends up with the extra [penalty] out of all of that, I don’t know how I end up with the embellishment,” he said. “It’s hard to understand, but you gotta play through that.”
I mean… you did sell it a bit, Sid.
Now on the Rust situation? The Flyers did luck out.
THE NHL NEEDS TO GIVE US A FLYERS-PENGUINS GAME AT BEAVER STADIUM ASAP
Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates against the New York Rangers in Game Seven of the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 15, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
But back to the most talked about dive since the days of Greg Louganis. During the broadcast, it was revealed that this was Crosby’s first-ever penalty for embellishment. Fortunatley, I wasn’t drinking anything when I heard this because I would’ve choked on it.
For 21 of my 30 years on this glorious space marble we call Earth, I’ve been tormented by Sidney Crosby, and a big part of that was his penchant for diving and whining.
Now, he has kind of grown out of that, but it was such a known thing that f
Former Flyers goalie Brian Boucher alluded to his old habits during TNT’s broadcast of Game 3.
Hell, I remember reading in former NHL referee Kerry Fraser’s book about this habit.
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Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby talks to a linesman during Game 3 against the Philadelphia Flyers, (© Eric Hartline-Imagn Images)
And still, this was the first time?!
Unbelievable.
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While the Penguins were not happy about the officiating — and I do think they had a pretty legitimate case on that Rust incident — they can’t be hung up on these things down 3-0.
The Flyers have been the more solid team all series long, and that’s why they have their cross-state rivals on the ropes going into Saturday night’s Game 4 in Philadelphia.
