Penguins players detail injuries, expand on key playoff moments

Sidney Crosby wasn’t cleared to play in Game 6. Evan Rodrigues disagrees with a penalty called on him in the same game.

Brock McGinn and Marcus Pettersson, though, regret their on-ice actions that contributed to the goals that ultimately ended the Pittsburgh Penguins’ season two nights later.

That was part of what was gleaned from a marathon of player media availabilities that served as exit interviews with media Tuesday in Cranberry. Among the highlights of comments from 17 players:

• Crosby and coach Mike Sullivan disputed a report that Crosby was given medical clearance to play in Game 6 of their first-round series against the New York Rangers but was held out by management. Sullivan went so far as to call it “false.”

Crosby had suffered a suspected head injury after being hit high by Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba during the second period of Game 5.

“I was cleared Sunday morning after the (morning) skate, the morning skate and things like that, just how I felt that day leading up to it,” Crosby said. “Pretty much, Sunday before (Game 7) was when I was cleared. There’s a process that you have to go through. I went through that process. Wasn’t cleared for Game 6 and was cleared for Game 7. That was all there was to it.”

• Forward Rickard Rakell acknowledged, as suspected, it was a head injury that prevented him from playing between Games 2-6. Rakell absorbed a hit by Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren early during Game 1 and did not play again until Game 7.

“You just want to make sure you’re not getting any consequences out of that,” Rakell said of a head injury. “Obviously, just trying to buy some more time. I was still feeling fine.”

• Another player who suffered an injury, Brian Dumoulin, during Game 1 did not return at all during the postseason. The veteran defenseman revealed he had suffered a “Grade 3 tear” of the MCL in his right knee when he lunged into the net to prevent a Rangers goal that ultimately was disallowed by video review.

Though Dumoulin played the remainder of the three-overtime game, he said Tuesday he kept his shifts short and suspected he was injured more seriously.

Dumoulin also revealed an undisclosed foot ailment that had been bothering him throughout the season.

• Goalie Casey DeSmith left that game during the second overtime and did not return. He had core-muscle surgery days later and was deemed out for the playoffs.

“I had been dealing with a little bit of a groin issue for about a month of a half,” DeSmith said, “(and) it was just the nature of (multiple overtime periods) and the fatigue and stuff like that. I made a movement and just felt my whole hip and groin just go all at once. It was a pretty easy decision to pull myself out of the game considering I couldn’t really move or go down or anything like that.”

DeSmith is scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency this summer.

• Rodrigues defended himself for taking a penalty during the second period of Game 6 that led to the Rangers’ first goal.

Rodrigues said he “thought it was a clean play” when he got whistled for roughing Lindgren.

“I got hit, I get up, the guy plays the puck and I finish my hit,” Rodrigues said. “I think there’s been a lot of comments on it, but if you take away me getting hit beforehand, I think you see that hit maybe 50 times in the entire series.”

Lindgren could have been penalized for his hit of Rodrigues, but Rodrigues’ hit had the appearance of retaliation. The Rangers scored 5 seconds into the ensuing power play, tied the score 76 seconds later and took the lead 7½ minutes after that.

After the game, Sullivan wasn’t shy about admonishing Rodrigues for his hit. But Rodrigues on Tuesday noted he never has been subjected to supplemental NHL discipline and referenced a low total of career penalty minutes (77 in 316 games).

“It’s a physical game, it’s the playoffs, guys are finishing checks,” Rodrigues said. “It’s unfortunate it played out the way it did… I think it was a pretty good play.”

• No one disputes that McGinn’s penalty during overtime of Game 7 was a savvy one since it prevented a clean scoring chance (even if New York won on the resulting power play). But what McGinn has been criticized for is his giveaway of the puck that led to that scoring chance.

“That’s something that I’ll have to live with,” McGinn said. “It’s a tough bounce. I’ve just got to get the puck in (the offensive zone) there and not turn it over and let that happen.”

• The tying goal in that game was scored by the Rangers with 5:45 left in regulation and just moments after Pettersson’s helmet came off during a scrum with Alexis Lafreniere behind the Penguins net.

After raising his arms to the side in an attempt to draw a penalty, Pettersson skated to the bench, and the resulting confusion might have contributed to Mika Zibanejad’s goal. NHL rules analysts since have said that by rule, Pettersson could have picked up his own helmet and put it back on his head, theoretically altering the course of the game.

“In the heat of the moment, yeah, the rule is I probably could have put in on again,” Pettersson said Tuesday.

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