For the second time in a row this season, the Chicago Blackhawks brought the game to a shootout and took down the Pittsburgh Penguins. There’s a couple head-scratchers that come to mind now that all is said and done, like the hero/goat decision to use Letang as the Penguins 3rd shooter over Malkin, but we’re only asking that question because Letang missed and Chicago had Fleury’s number on all 3 penalty shots. If there is one person that seemed to have the “hockey gods” working in his favor this game, his name is Sidney Crosby.
Lets start with something that’s a rarity in any team’s history, yet somehow not the first to happen in a Penguins game this season. Sidney Crosby being the bottom-heavy, puck guarding guru he is in battles against the boards, was having another one of his spirited battles behind the Chicago net, then gets whistled for a pretty weak tripping call. Lets just say Crosby wasn’t happy about it. Here’s the video.
Sidney Crosby goes to the box… PSYCH!!!
There are some big disadvantages to watching sporting events in crowded public places like bars, but there are also some up sides to it as well, like recognizing the immediate confusion of 100% of people in the room never remembering seeing something like that ever happening in a game. Some sharper minds might recall that Jarret Stoll from the LA Kings had a very similar sequence of events fall in his favor against the Penguins in late October. Since the Pens won that match 3-0, it looks like which ever team receives the call is ultimately doomed to also receive a mark in the loss column. Regardless, this isn’t something a fan typically sees in hockey and for the people who couldn’t remember ever seeing anything like that before, it’s completely understandable.
That wasn’t the end of Crosby’s interesting fortune during the match. As stated earlier, the game made its way into a shootout and of course, the Penguins captain was put in the shooting position that is typically reserved for keeping your team in it or putting the pressure on/putting the other team away. The number 2 slot in a shootout is very Atlas-esk for the player assigned to it. Here’s how it went for Sidney Crosby…
Crosby Shots Seemingly Just Want To Go In The Net.
For Crosby, short of getting the win and the Penguins receiving 2 points instead of one, that’s a fairly notable game when it comes to fortunate scenarios. Fleury on the other hand, is probably thinking he needs to go back to the drawing board on his shootout reads, which he’s typically a dynamo at.
What did you think about the Crosby quick tour of the penalty box and his shootout goal? What did you think about the Blackhawks’ NASTY shootout goals? Hit up the comments and I’ll see you down there.
If you’re a bar-going Pittsburgh sports fan, you’ll probably want to hit up my facebook, twitter and instagram to raise a few beers together, no matter where we are.
By: Eli Rebich
