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The Philadelphia Flyers earned a fairly handy 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 on Wednesday night to take a 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 seasons in the NHL and had never gotten the game for embellishment, until a bizarre sequence between the whistles.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby lies on the ice after catching a high stick from Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway. He was also given a minor sentence for beautification. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Flyers forward (and top agitator, it must be said) Garnet Hathaway skated between Crosby and the linesman before a faceoff in the Flyers defensive zone and was, let’s just say, “carefree” with his wood.
There was no doubt it hit the Pens captain in the face, but there was also no doubt it wasn’t hard enough to send Crosby sprawling to the ice as a sniper fired from the rafters.
Both were sent into the box and the game continued at 4 against 4.
After the game, Crosby offered his reaction to that incident and another melee involving teammate Bryan Rust a short time later that resulted in a Flyers power play and power play goal.
PANTHERS’ MATTHEW TKACHUK TALKS GAME 3 CHAOS: “IF YOU HAVE TO TAKE A PUNCH TO THE FACE, TAKE IT”
“I don’t know how Rusty ends up with the extra [penalty] “Apart from all that, I don’t know how I end up with this embellishment,” he said. “It’s hard to understand, but you have to play with it.”
I mean… you kinda sold it, Sid.
Now on to the Rust situation? The Flyers were lucky.
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Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates against the New York Rangers during game seven of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 15, 2022 in New York. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
But back to the most talked about diving since the days of Greg Louganis. During the broadcast, it was revealed that this was Crosby’s first ever beautification penalty. Luckily I wasn’t drinking anything when I heard that because I would have choked on it.
For 21 of my 30 years on this glorious space marble we call Earth, I was tormented by Sidney Crosby, and a big part of that was his penchant for diving and whining.
Now, he kind of grew up with it, but it was such a well-known thing that
Former Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher hinted at his old habits during Game 3’s broadcast on TNT.
Hell, I remember reading former NHL referee Kerry Fraser’s book about this habit.
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Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby speaks to a linesman during Game 3 against the Philadelphia Flyers, (© Éric Hartline-Imagn Images)
And yet, it was the first time?!
Amazing.
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Even if the Penguins weren’t happy with the officiating – and I think they had a pretty legitimate case on that Rust incident – they can’t hang on to these things 3-0.
The Flyers have been the strongest team in the entire series, and that’s why they have their all-state rivals on the ropes heading into Saturday night’s Game 4 in Philadelphia.
