The Tampa Bay Lightning got the upper hand on the Pittsburgh Penguins after their captain Sidney Crosby threw a temper tantrum towards the refs and was handed a 10 minute misconduct.
If you are a Tampa Bay Lightning fan, or essentially a fan of any team other than the Pittsburgh Penguins, you are probably seriously annoyed every time Penguins captain Sidney Crosby starts chirping at the referees. Whether it is what he considers to be a bad call or when he doesn’t get a call after one of his Oscar-worthy performances, he always seems to have something to say.
Despite his talent, this has transformed Sidney Crosby into one of the most hated players in the National Hockey League. This is what made the opening minutes of the game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Amalie Arena on Saturday night so very special for Bolts fans.
It took a mere 57 seconds into the game when Crosby would start in on the Bolts. Thankfully for the Lightning and the sanity of their fans, the referees handed Crosby a one-way ticket to the sin bin for Cross Checking Lightning forward Yanni Gourde. As most Lightning fans know by now, the Bolts made the most of their opportunity.
Tampa Bay Lightning
In the final moments of the Power Play, Lightning forward (and leading goal-scorer) Nikita Kucherov would pick up his ninth goal of the season to strike first blood for the Bolts. This is definitely a strong way to start off an encounter; especially when you’re facing the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
As one could easily imagine, Sidney Crosby was incensed it was his penalty which led to the Lightning’s opening goal. Spoiler Alert: Crosby had plenty to say about the incident and wasted no time in skating over to the referees and expressing his displeasure.
It’s no strange occurrence to see a player voice their displeasure to a referee; however, it is a whole other animal when one doesn’t know when to let things go and skate away. If you are fairly decent at reading lips, it is pretty clear to see Crosby had some choice words for the referees following Kucherov’s goal.
Not only did the Penguins captain voice his displeasure, but he continued to chirp the ref even after the ref made it abundantly clear he was done with listening to what Crosby had to say. Crosby continued to throw one of his classic temper tantrums as he followed the ref down the ice to continue his tirade.
Finally, the ref had enough of Crosby’s insolence and directed him right back to the seat in which he had occupied for the last two minutes. The difference this time is Crosby would now occupy this seat for 10 minutes. Essentially, thanks to his attitude problem, he would spent the first 12 minutes of the game in the box.
Maybe we are a little biased here, but from where we are sitting, this is not the kind of example we would want our captain to set for the rest of the team. There are plenty of times players (and fans, for that matter) don’t agree with a call made on the ice, but when it comes down to it, you have to know when to walk away.
When all was said and done, Crosby’s misconduct simply opened the door for what would be a painful night for the defending Stanley Cup Champions and their fans. When the final buzzer sounded, the Lightning would defeat the Penguins 7-1. This is the second time the Bolts have defeated the Penguins this season.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have just one more meeting with the Penguins this season. The final game of the series will take place on November 25 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Fortunately, no matter what the outcome of this game may turn out to be, the Lightning have already captured the season series victory.
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Of course, the Lightning would love nothing more than to sweep the season series and send the Penguins back to their locker room with their tails tucked firmly between their legs. There is bound to be plenty of animosity boiling over from this weekend’s encounter, so the Lightning will have to be on their toes and definitely continue to bring the game to the face of the Penguins.