Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin Are Penguins’ Dirtiest Players, According to Flyers Assistant Coach

There’s no arguing that Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are the two best players on the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’re two of the best players in the world, let alone just Pittsburgh.

However, would you also label the dynamic duo the Pens’ dirtiest players as well? One rival assistant coach would.

Philadelphia Flyers assistant coach Craig Berube stoked the flames of one of the game’s most intense rivalries with his comments on Tuesday. One of Peter Laviolette‘s assistant coaches helped pile on after the two teams’ brawl this past Sunday when talking about Crosby and Malkin on CSN Philly (via Pro Hockey Talk).

“Let me tell you something — Crosby and Malkin are the two dirtiest players on their hockey team,” Berube said. “They slash, they punch guys in the face, they do all these little things. I got no problem with what [Brayden] Schenn does, and if somebody runs [Crosby] over, that’s great. They should run him over.

“The guy gets away with too much in my opinion, whines to the refs all day and all night. It’s a joke.”

Sunday’s brawl stemmed from an incident in which Schenn dropped Crosby with a crosscheck as the two were skating back to the bench. This came after the two had a little run-in earlier in the game.

“[Crosby] did something to Schenner a little bit earlier, so he just went and gave him a little shot. It wasn’t like it was a tough, bad crosscheck. The guy dove.”

Of course, it’s nothing groundbreaking to note that Crosby takes certain liberties on the ice, and Berube is far from the first person to use the name Sidney Crosby and “whine” in the same breath. However, Berube wasn’t the only person jumping on Crosby, as Mike Milbury also criticized the star, saying “there’s a little punk in Crosby.”

The greatest irony in Berube’s comments, however, may be that there’s actually someone out there who doesn’t think that Matt Cooke is Pittsburgh’s dirtiest player.

The two teams will meet again Saturday before squaring off in the first round of the playoffs in what will certainly be a can’t-miss series.

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