A night after Washington Capitals’ forward Tom Wilson stirred up all kinds of controversy for a dangerous sequence against the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby is making headlines for a questionable play.
Crosby’s Penguins were taking on the Philadelphia Flyers in the Battle of Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening. Pittsburgh has already clinched a playoff spot, while the Flyers have been eliminated from playoff contention.
Crosby got into a wrestling match with pesky Philadelphia forward Travis Konecny during the second period and ended up throwing the Flyers’ forward down to the ice. Fans took exception to the fact Crosby piledrived Konecny’s head into the ice after he already brought him down. Both players received two-minute roughing penalties.
Video:
Wrestling match between Crosby and Konecny. Crosby takes him down pic.twitter.com/Tkm8tWNeov
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) May 5, 2021
Earlier in the game, Konecny got away with an apparent slew foot on Penguins’ forward Bryan Rust.
Here's what happened to Bryan Rust, took down by Konecny right before PIT goal. Doesn't look like a slew-foot to me but obviously a dangerous play nonetheless and one that was missed pic.twitter.com/O3NW7Vd0bk
— NHL Safety Watch (@NHLSafetyWatch) May 5, 2021
The Crosby play comes on the heels of Tom Wilson being fined $5,000 for “roughing” on Rangers’ forward Pavel Buchnevich during Monday’s heated game at Madison Square Garden. The NHL’s ruling prompted the Rangers to issue the following statement:
“The New York Rangers are extremely disappointed that Capitals forward Tom Wilson was not suspended for his horrifying act of violence last night at Madison Square Garden. Wilson is a repeat offender with a long history of these type of acts and we find it shocking that the NHL and their Department of Player Safety failed to take the appropriate action and suspend him indefinitely.Wilson’s dangerous and reckless actions caused an injury to Artemi Panarin that will prevent him from playing again this season. We view this as a dereliction of duty by NHL Head of Player Safety, George Parros, and believe he is unfit to continue in his current role.”
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 4, 2021
There’s no denying what Crosby did to Konecny wasn’t as dangerous as Wilson’s body slam on Panarin, but it’ll be interesting to see if the NHL issues out any discipline to one of their best players.
