Things got very, very testy between the Bruins and Penguins in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference final. According to Sidney Crosby, much of that comes from the officiating.
The Penguins’ captain has never been afraid to speak his mind when it comes to officiating and was at it once again following the opening game of the series, a 3-0 win for Boston.
Following a game that featured 14 penalties tallying 45 minutes, Crosby was left scratching his head about the way the game was refereed, questioning some of the perceived inconsistencies.
“It’s tough,” Crosby said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “They’re letting a lot go out there, and the more it gets like that, the more it’s going to escalate. You can only control and channel that stuff so much. You keep letting guys do that stuff, you’re just going to push the envelope. That’s something we obviously want to stay away from, but it’s kind of a natural thing when it gets like that.”
Crosby was whistled for interference in the first period, and he was also caught slashing Tyler Seguin in the third period — the latter penalty certainly looking like one born out of frustration more than anything else.
“I think it was just hard to gauge. Interference calls [made] where you barely catch a guy, and then you’re allowing punches to the head and extra stuff. It’s hard to get a gauge as a player.
“Are we going to play, or are we going to call those little things once in a while? It’s hard to get a temperature on the game when that stuff is going on. Then you let a few of those go and everything starts getting out of hand. We’ve just got to focus on playing.”
If anything, it should at least make for a very interesting Game 2 on Monday in Pittsburgh.
