Sidney Crosby has more focus on him than any other player in the NHL, so it makes sense that just about every story having to do with Crosby gets overblown. His interaction with Zdeno Chara in the Eastern Conference finals is no different.
It’s a story that won’t go away, and with Crosby and a host of NHL stars making the media rounds last week, it was bound to come up again. The topic of Chara’s punch that landed on Crosby’s injured jaw resurfaced this week, and Crosby was willing to once again weigh in on the play.
“I think you saw my reaction in the rest of Game 1, I wasn’t too happy about it,” Crosby told CBC’s Elliotte Friedman. Crosby did so with a laugh, according to Friedman.
“I don’t know if he meant to hit me in the head,” the Penguins superstar added. “It was a pretty good punch. … He’s a pretty strong guy, it didn’t feel too good, especially coming off the injury I did, that’s the last thing I wanted.
“Guys are going to do what they need to do to shut you down. … Kind of crossed the line a little bit, but you toe the line in the playoffs and sometimes it gets crossed.”
Crosby already weighed in on the punch earlier this summer.
“It’s part of the game,” Crosby told CTV in July. “Refs can’t always see that kind of stuff. There’s nothing you can do. It’s part of the game. Guys are going to do that, I can’t do anything. If Zdeno Chara’s going to punch me, what am I going to do? So, you kinda hope it gets called and if it doesn’t, you play through it.”
At some point, everyone involved will get to move on. However, you can expect that the infamous punch will probably come up at least one more time, perhaps in October when the Penguins and Brunis meet for the first time since the conference finals on Oct. 30 in Pittsburgh.
