Sidney Crosby Getting Penalized for Embellishment Sparks Wild Reactions From Fans: “Has a Career in European Soccer”

Sidney Crosby was handed an embellishment penalty for the first time in his 21-year career after he went down following a high sticking incident.

Sidney Crosby Getting Penalized for Embellishment Sparks Wild Reactions From Fans: “Has a Career in European Soccer”

Sidney Crosby (Image via X/@Sportsnet/Imago)

At the moment, everything seems to be going wrong for the Pittsburgh Penguins. On Wednesday, the team suffered a 5-2 defeat against the Philadelphia Flyers and fell 3-0 down in the series. One of the big talking points of this game was the embellishment call on Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

Having lost 3-2 and 3-0 in Games 1 and 2, the Penguins needed a major result in Game 3 of the first round of the Eastern Conference. In the game at Xfinity Mobile Arena, they started on the right foot, taking an early lead through Evgeni Malkin.

It was towards the end of the first period when an incident regarding Crosby took place. With around less than 90 seconds remaining for the end of the period, the veteran forward was caught on the face with a slight high stick from Garnet Hathaway.

While the Flyers’ star got assessed with a 2-minute minor penalty for high-sticking Crosby, the Penguins captain was also called out by the officials. He was handed a 2-minute minor penalty for embellishment.

An embellishment call in the NHL is a penalty when a player is thought to have exaggerated the impact of a foul committed against them. As Crosby stayed down for a while, the officials deemed him to have embellished in the moment and sent him to the penalty box.

This marked another piece of history. It was the first time in his 21-year career that Crosby had been penalized for embellishment. Up until this moment, the Canadian international had never received this penalty.

The tensions remained high in the second period. A huge scrum broke out between the two sets of players, leading to several penalties.

The Flyers ended up scoring 3 times in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Despite a goal from Erik Karlsson in the third period, which made it a 3-2 game, the Penguins were unable to get the result they wanted and suffered a 5-2 defeat.

Fans slam Sidney Crosby after Penguins star gets called out for embellishment

Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins did not have a good time on the ice on Wednesday. The team got crushed 5-2 by their rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, while their captain picked up the first embellishment penalty of his career.

Sidney Crosby
Sidney Crosby (Image via Imago)

Fans on social media were not happy with Crosby’s actions during the incident. Many of them supported the embellishment penalty decision by the officials. One user took a wild shot at Crosby and wrote, “has a career in European Soccer.” Soccer players have many times faced being called out for “diving” in games in an attempt to win fouls and penalties.

Check out that and some other reactions from X below:

The Penguins are now 3-0 down in the series. They will need something of a miracle to turn things around from this situation. A loss in Game 4 could see them getting swept in the Eastern Conference first round.

Sidney Crosby and Penguins criticize embellishment decision in Game 3

In his illustrious career, Sidney Crosby has accomplished several things. One thing he had not done until Wednesday was pick up an embellishment call. Following the loss in Game 3, he and his team criticized this decision.

Sidney Crosby
Sidney Crosby (Image via Imago)

While speaking with the reporters after the loss, Crosby expressed that he had no idea how he picked up the embellishment call.

I don’t know how I end up with the embellishment. It’s hard to understand but you gotta play through that.

Sidney Crosby told the reporters

His coach, Dan Muse, came to his defense as well. In the press conference after the game, Muse defended Crosby and claimed that he strongly disagreed with the decision.

We don’t have a single embellishment all year. Sidney Crosby doesn’t have an embellishment penalty in 21 seasons. The stick’s in his face. They take both of them. I disagree on that strongly.

Dan Muse said regarding Sidney Crosby’s embellishment penalty

While Crosby and Muse expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision, the bottom line is that the Penguins suffered another huge loss. A defeat this coming Saturday would see them suffer an early elimination from the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs.

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