The genesis for Sidney Crosby's fight with Claude Giroux in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal was when the Pittsburgh Penguins captain pushed away Philadelphia Flyers forward Jakub Voracek's glove as he was trying to retrieve it. Crosby and Giroux then wrestled for a bit, both earning 5-minute majors.
The two spoke about the fight after the game, and Sid was flabbergasted as to why it was considered a mystery that he and Giroux dropped gloves: Giroux is a Flyer; Sidney Crosby doesn't like the Flyers.
From the scrum:
Q: When you knocked Voracek's glove on the ice and hit it away was that just out of frustration?
"I don't like any guy on their team there. It was near me and he went to pick it up and I pushed it."
Q: Why don't you like them?
"I don't like them, because I don't like any guy on their team so."
Q: The fighting and such was that you trying to spark their team a little bit?
"Yea, guys are emotional and there is a lot of stuff going on out there. There is no reason to explain. I don't have to sit here and explain why I pushed a glove away they are doing a lot of things out there too. You know what, we don't like each other. Was I going to sit there and pick up his glove? What was I supposed to do?"
Q: You could skate away.
"Skate away? Oh well I didn't that time."
Yes, world: Why did you expect Sidney Crosby to pick up Voracek's glove for him? What was he supposed to do?
While the Mike Milburys of the world bemoan them, we celebrate Sidney Crosby's heelish tendencies on this blog. The snarky answers through a [crap]-eating grin, as he hides his complete disdain for certain questions from the media, is one of our favorite of his heel traits.
Here's more Sid from today:
Back to heel tactics: Crosby was instigating incidents through the game. Sidney Crosby. The guy with the $8.7 million noggin, who missed large chunks of the last two seasons with head and/or neck injuries. And yet he has a go with Giroux, goes after Hartnell later in the game, mixes it up and yaps ... knowing full well that they know that he knows that the NHL knows his medical history.
Someone like Milbury sees this as hypocrisy; make of it what you will.
From the postgame, Scott Hartnell:
Q: Was that the dirtiest you've ever seen a team in the playoffs that you've faced?
"I think after every scrum we made it a point to walk away every time and I think Crosby started almost every scrum. You know, the fight that he had with Giroux, the last one he came and grabbed me from behind and for almost every thing he was out there. If they're trying to get under our skin, they're not. They're just getting more frustrated with themselves, which is great."
With his secondary assist on James Neal's power-play goal on Sunday, Crosby scored his first point outside of the first period in the series. He has 2 goals and 3 assists for the series, and is a minus-1. Evgeni Malkin has four assists and is a minus-4.
But if the Penguins go out in four, something tells us Marc-Andre Fleury catches more heat than they do.