Rewind back to Friday night when Sidney Crosby got mixed up with Nick Foligno early in the third period of the Penguins' 6-3 victory. At the time, the Senators were down 5-2, and Foligno had made his presence felt repeatedly in front of the Penguins' net.
Finally, Foligno falls over the back of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and into his crease. The closest Penguin to Foligno is Crosby, and he took exception to the Senator's crease-crashing. Crosby landed a number of cross checks before Foligno retaliated, and, eventually high blows were exchanged. Crosby was given a two-minute penalty for elbowing, while his counterpart received two for roughing.
After the game, Foligno called Crosby out, citing him as a hypocrite:
"It's not a big deal, but it is something that he preached all summer about that we should limit (head shots) and then he goes and does it, so I was just a little disappointed," Foligno said. "But, you know, that's a small part of the game and it's over now."
Crosby, when asked about Foligno's comments after the Pens' 4-3 overtime victory at Montreal on Saturday, didn't mince words. Making the clip even better is how visibly irritated the perpetually measured Crosby was.
He draws a very specific line between contact to the head during scrums, and contact to the head coming by way of blindside hits. It's a nuanced position, to be sure, but one with some logical standing, in the world of hockey at least, a world where bare knuckle brawling holds an established place in competition.
Crosby has been effective and feisty since his long-awaited return, recording eight points and eight penalty minutes in his first four games back. Matt Cooke, it should be noted, also has eight penalty minutes this season, in 23 games played.