A couple of weeks ago Eric McErlain passed along the video of Penguins center Sidney Crosby punching an unsuspecting Atlanta Thrashers player in the goods. It didn't exactly go over well with hockey fans because, well, a lot of people may have been suspended for a similar move while Crosby went unpunished. On Saturday, with the Penguins getting their hats handed to them -- again -- on home ice, Crosby decided to take out his frustrations on Brett McLean and essentially jumped him right off the draw.

The scrap came just after Max Talbot and Gregory Campbell squared off in a mutually agreed upon bout. If Crosby wants to be a leader and stick up for his team -- and himself -- there are better ways to do it. Basically mugging the guy across from you and then wildly throwing punches with your visor on is not the way. Terribly weak on Crosby's part. Is it weaker than the Penguins collective team effort the past month? That's a toss up, my friends.

Both players received five-minute majors for fighting, while Crosby picked up a 10-minute misconduct and a double minor for roughing.

The Penguins ultimately lost, 6-1, dropping their fourth consecutive game -- and fifth straight at home -- while they are 8-13 since November 15. Even worse, with Buffalo's win in Boston on Saturday, the Penguins fall to the ninth spot in the Eastern Conference, meaning, if the playoffs were to start today, the defending Eastern Conference champions would be on the outside looking in. Fortunately, the playoffs don't start today. Though if the Penguins keep playing like this it's not going to matter when they start.

Sidney Crosby's Fighting Style: Dirty as I Wanna Be, Part 2 originally appeared on NHL FanHouse on Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments