Penguins forward Sidney Crosby gets the 1st game misconduct of his career

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby had done a lot in 18 seasons.

But on Saturday, he experienced a first in his nearly two decades as an NHL player: He received a game misconduct during a 6-0 road loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.

The infraction came at 9 minutes, 46 seconds of the third period.

What initiated everything was a cross check by Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson, who knocked Crosby down near the Kings’ crease. Crosby appeared to be stunned after Kings defenseman Sean Durzi tripped over the fallen Crosby.

As officials tried to sort things out, Crosby and Anderson exchanged shoves near the penalty boxes and had to be separated by referee Garret Rank and linesman Caleb Apperson.

With the Kings already up by five goals at that juncture, Rank decided to assess 10-minute misconduct penalties to both players — with only 10:14 remaining in regulation — in hopes of cooling things down.

No such thing happened for Crosby, who essentially harassed Rank around the Kings’ zone in what appeared to be a mostly one-sided conversation.

Eventually, Rank had his fill of Crosby’s thoughts and blew his whistle again before bumping his hands on hips to signal a game misconduct for Crosby.

Crosby earned 20 minutes worth of penalties for the outburst, one short of the career-high he established during a 6-1 home loss to the Florida Panthers at the Mellon Arena.

In that contest, Crosby racked up 21 penalty minutes through a 10-minute misconduct, a fighting major (in a bout with Panthers forward Brett McLean), an instigator penalty and an unsportsmanlike conduct infraction.

As for Saturday’s contest, Crosby indicated Anderson initiated things through some verbal barbs after the cross check.

“He was saying something,” Crosby said to media that traveled to Los Angeles. “I don’t know what he was saying. We were pretty far from each other. That happens pretty often. A lot of scrums, that happens. Honestly, I was shocked I was getting kicked out of the game. I had no idea.”

Crosby stopped short of offering an opinion on the entire ordeal.

“Can I really say what I think anyway?” Crosby asked rhetorically. “Let’s be honest here.”

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan also was tight-lipped when asked if he received an explanation from Rank.

“I don’t think Garrett had any interest in giving us an explanation,” Sullivan said.

Carter explains Makar hit

Penguins forward Jeff Carter spoke with media after Saturday’s game for the first time since he injured Avalanche All-Star defenseman Cale Makar with a hit to the head Tuesday.

During the third period of a 2-1 overtime home win by the Penguins, Carter’s right shoulder clipped Makar’s chin and dropped the defenseman to the ice.

Makar left the game for several minutes but eventually returned and finished the contest.

He has missed the past two games because of a head injury, however.

No penalty was called on the play, and the league did not issue any supplemental discipline to Carter.

Following Tuesday’s game, Makar was peeved over what happened.

“Pretty blindside,” Makar said to Colorado media. “The (referee) said apparently we ran into each other, but I don’t know how that’s possible. He was coming down the ice.”

Carter, who rarely speaks with media, offered his recollections of the play Saturday.

“The puck was behind the net,” Carter said. “I was tracking the puck. He hits it out of the air. I turn to the puck. He turns to the puck, and, unfortunately, I clipped his shoulder, chin, whatever it is. If you watch the video, I’m literally tracking the puck the whole time.”

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