NEW YORK -- The trajectory of Game 5 changed with one hit in the second period here in New York on Wednesday, leading to a 5-3 loss and forcing a Game 6 in the series.
The Penguins were holding on to a 2-0 lead when Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba injured Sidney Crosby with a dangerous high hit.
The hit occurred 9:14 into the second period. Trouba appeared to be attempting to play the puck, and led with his stick. His stick took Crosby's left foot out from under him, causing Crosby to stumble. As Trouba was skating past Crosby he hit him up high, appearing to lead with his elbow:
There was no penalty on the play.
Crosby went on two play two more shifts, one lasting from 11:14-11:36, and another lasting from 12:36-13:10. He left the game after that final shift and did not return for the remainder of the second period or the third period.
Mike Sullivan's only update after the game was that Crosby was still being evaluated for an upper-body injury. I saw Crosby leaving Madison Square Garden shortly after the final buzzer and he wasn't laboring at all. He was moving fine and didn't have anything that was visibly wrong with him, though if the head is the concern after the hit, it wouldn't be anything that would be visible anyway.
Things quickly fell apart after Crosby left. Adam Fox got the Rangers on the board two minutes later, and within a span of three minutes the Rangers had a lead following goals from Alexis Lafreniere and Trouba. Jake Guentzel's second goal of the game evened the score once more, but Filip Chytil's third-period tally on the man advantage stood to be the game-winner.
Players avoided blaming Crosby's absence for the loss, saying that it was something the team should have been able to handle.
"We have plenty of leaders on this team that have been through a lot," Guentzel said. "I mean, you never want to see a player like that leave. But we've got the group to step up. We have a lot of capable guys in the locker room. We've got to find a way to get that win."
"I mean, obviously no wants to see anyone get hurt," Teddy Blueger said "Obviously Sid is a real important player for us. But I think throughout the course of the year, we played without him and have done pretty well. We battled through injuries. So I don't think it's anything we can overcome."
Marcus Pettersson echoed the sentiment.
"He's a huge part of our team," Pettersson said. "But we've shown in the past we can play without our stars. So we've got to do a better job, we knew they were going to have a push. Once they got that first goal, they got energy from that. We've got to do a better job just killing that momentum, getting pucks deep, play better in the D-zone, I think they got a lot of energy from that. We should be able to bounce back from that."
Both Pettersson and Guentzel said that they didn't see the hit on Crosby. Sullivan sure did, and made his thoughts pretty clear when asked about his thoughts regarding Trouba's intent.
"Did you see the hit? Then you probably have the same opinion I do."
Trouba's disciplinary history is brief. His last punishment came on Jan. 12, 2020, a $5,000 fine following a slash to Vince Dunn. His only other history before that was on Feb. 20, 2017 as a member of the Jets, when he received a two-game suspension for a hit to the head of Mark Stone.
While they won't show up in Trouba's disciplinary history, Trouba has had several dangerous high hits this season alone that went unpunished. He had this high hit on Jujhar Khaira in December, a hit for which he received no discipline:
He had this high hit on Nathan MacKinnon not even 24 hours after that hit on Khaira:
It remains to be seen if Trouba will receive any discipline for his latest high hit. And with the inconsistency in the league's disciplinary process, it's hard to predict what the league might do here.
The Penguins canceled Thursday's practice, but will still hold a virtual media availability sometime during the day, so it's possible that we get a further update on Crosby as early as then.
If Crosby is unable to play for Game 6, a possible series-clinching game for the Penguins, it'll be Malkin stepping up as the No. 1 center in his absence.
"Geno is a generational talent," Sullivan said. He's a real capable guy. I thought he had a strong game tonight. We feel like we're deep at that position. We have what it takes to win regardless of who's in our lineup. Geno is an important guy for us. That combination, Sid and Geno have been two of the best in the league for 15-plus years. When one of them's out, the other one steps up. That's how that's been in my experience since I've been here. And depending on what happens moving forward, I'm sure Geno will bring his best."
