‘He got away with it’: Penguins’ Crosby speaks on Hathaway high-stick

Now two days removed from the Philadelphia Flyer’s 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of their first-round series, a lot of the conversation remains around Sidney Crosby and his embellishment penalty from a Garnet Hathaway high-stick.

There’s been plenty of conversation surrounding the call, whether it was fair for Crosby to get an embellishment call, or if he even embellished in the first place. But for the first time on Friday, Crosby gave his opinion on the incident.

“I don’t really want to get into it,” Crosby said. “It happened. He hit me in the face with his stick. I don’t know what else you want me to tell you. Make up whatever you want to make up. Those are the facts. He got away with it. Good tradeoff.”

The infractions occurred late in the first period of Game 3. As Crosby was gliding towards the faceoff dot, Hathaway skated past Crosby as he was picking up his stick behind him. Whether intentional or accidental, Hathaway’s stick made contact with Crosby’s face, and Crosby dropped to the ice in pain, with a little bit of theatrics.

The officials gave both players penalties, assessing Hathaway a two-minute minor penalty for high-sticking and Crosby two minutes for embellishment. As Crosby said, it proved to be a great trade off for the Flyers, as while Crosby continues to be the Penguins most important player, even at 38 years old, Hathaway is just a fourth-line winger for the Flyers.

Crosby’s penalty was, according to several outlets, the first embellishment penalty of his 21-season career. That may come as a surprise considering he had a reputation for diving when he was younger, but it’s also a rule the league has cracked down on more in recent seasons, and Crosby’s “reputation” was also exaggerated a fair amount for the purpose of banter among fans.

The Penguins will look to keep their season alive when Game 4 takes place in Philly on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.