Sidney Crosby was penalized for embellishment for the first time in his career on Wednesday. Now, he is being called out by fans for going down too easily.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are in deep trouble. They lost Game 3 of the Battle of Pennsylvania against the Philadelphia Flyers and are now down 3–0 in the series.
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”Do-or-die”
Game 4 will be played in Philadelphia on Saturday night. Following the 5–2 loss, the Penguins are really feeling the pressure of trailing 3–0 in the first round.
“Now we’re going to see what we’re really made of. Now it’s do-or-die. The toughest game to win is that fourth one, so hopefully we can start by winning one,” Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson told reporters after the game.
Sidney Crosby embellishment
Wednesday’s game also saw a historic moment, as Sidney Crosby received the first embellishment penalty of his career. Prior to a faceoff, Garnet Hathaway accidentally hit Crosby with his stick. As a result, Hathaway received two minutes for high-sticking, while Crosby—who fell to the ice—was also given two minutes for embellishment. Following the game, Crosby spoke to reporters and made it clear that he was not happy with the officials’ call.
“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. It’s hard to understand, but you’ve got to play through that,” Crosby said.
Fans are not happy
However, fans online were not too pleased with Crosby’s reaction to Hathaway’s high-sticking.
“Put Sid on the Canadian Olympic dive team,” one fan wrote on X.
“Woooof… that was a pathetic dive,” another wrote.
“Pens fan here. Sid dove. He was trying to draw a penalty and got caught for embellishing,” a third fan chimed in.
“Did he get shot by a sniper? What the hell?” a fourth fan wrote.
Meanwhile, you can watch the incident below.
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