There’s no sugar coating it, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2021–22 has been nothing short of a disaster thus far.
A seemingly favorable matchup with the rival Philadelphia Flyers has quickly turned on its head, with the latest installment featuring a 5–2 loss on the road in a chippy Game 3 that got away from the Penguins despite a strong first period.
The officiating was a hot topic during and after the game, with an embellishment call on Crosby and an extra penalty on Bryan Rust standing out as two of the more controversial moments. While he didn’t go as far as to blame the loss on the refs, Crosby didn’t hold back his confusion and displeasure with how it was ultimately handled on Wednesday night.
“I don’t know, I mean it’s very clear that they’re looking for that. I don’t know how Rusty ends up with the extra out of all of that. I don’t know how I end up with the embellishment. Yeah, it’s hard to understand, but you’ve got to play through that,”
The 38-year-old Crosby registered his first point of the series in the loss, now sitting with one point (one assist) through three games played these playoffs.
After such a promising regular season to get back into the dance, Crosby and the Penguins have already found themselves on the ropes just six days into the postseason. Philadelphia has frustrated them in many different ways, and it showed with tensions boiling over in Game 3.
Closing out a series with a fourth and deciding win is the hardest thing to do in professional sports, but given what we’ve seen through three games, Pittsburgh is going to need a lot to change to even have a chance at bringing the series back to PPG Paints Arena for a Game 5 on Monday.
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