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Shocking: Penguins Broadcast Says Sidney Crosby Deserves Preferential Treatment After Game 3 Embellishment Penalty
By Nick Piccone
Published:
It feels like it’s been one Earth rotation around the sun since the last Flyers/Penguins game. When you’re used to a playoff game every other day, having two days in between games makes it seem as if we did something wrong, like we’re grounded. “No! You’re not allowed to watch your hockey team today!” Thank God for DVR.
One of the big stories coming out of Game 3 in Philly Wednesday night was the first period embellishment penalty to Sidney Crosby. According to Penguins head coach Dan Muse, and Phil Bourque on the Pens’ TV broadcast, that was the first time Crosby’s ever been called for embellishment in his career. That is apparently true, which adds fuel to the argument that refs have always let him get away with this kind of stuff.
Bourque, who was loving the initial call, changed his tune as Crosby headed to the box:
“For what!? Then you gotta give four [minutes] to Hathaway then. You take a stick in the face, and you go down. Are they gonna call embellishment? … Yeah, you gotta get this right. This is a veteran crew here… I think if you had another look at this one here, you would not make that call … You get hit with a stick underneath your nose – just take your index finger and poke underneath your nose there. Imagine the tip of a stick clipping your nose like that. This is a veteran crew tonight, and I am really surprised they would call that against Sidney Crosby. I’m gonna bite my lip on that one there. If they had another look at that one, I don’t think it would be the same call.”
Yeah, Phil, really biting your lip there. If they had another look at that one, they would tell Crosby to get up and warn Hathaway to be more careful with his stick, probably. Either no penalties, or both of them get one. The refs, surprisingly, got it right.
Fast forward to the first intermission report on SportsNet Pittsburgh, and Penguins analysts Jay Caufield and Matt Bartkowski wasted no time blaming the referees and defending their Big Boy. Caufield, who was born in Philly and grew up in the Lansdale area, said Crosby was just selling it to make sure that the referee saw it:
Incredible. Unbelievably lacking self-awareness. pic.twitter.com/8Sp0melRNg
— Nick Piccone (@_piccone) April 24, 2026
“I’ve always been against the embellishment thing for me. Especially Sidney Crosby, a little more respect for the situation and who he is. But he got high-sticked, so it’s a high stick … This is just stirring the pot right now. I mean, truly it is … You know what, stir up Sidney Crosby even more. Perfect.”
Bartkowski took aim at the refs, saying they’re inserting themselves into the show – which is Yinzer for, “My team needs the refs to have a chance.”
“The refs in general these playoffs have been all over the map. I’ve watched a lot of these games. We’ve seen it this series. They’re just inserting themselves into different spots … It’s like the ref says, ‘Hey crowd, look at me. I’m here to ref.’ And now we know you’re here. I don’t get it.”
Just incredibly rich coming from Pittsburgh. Caufield defines embellishment for his viewers without realizing it. No wonder Penguins fans always think the refs are out to get them when they’ve actually protected their superstar for two decades.
And, do we really think Bartkowski is watching other playoff games? If the referees were really all over the map in other series, he would have had a full list of examples to rattle off if he wanted to be taken seriously. But he didn’t. Because it doesn’t exist.
On the Penguins’ radio broadcast, Joe Brand and Colby Armstrong were also not enjoying themselves. They are not fans of a penalty being called in addition to an embellishment call, because it’s one or the other. That’s always been the talking point for teams with superstars, because they would never embellish something to try and draw a call, right? –
Armstrong: “They’ve got Sid now, too! What a joke! … In my opinion, that’s just a make-up call, kind of. I don’t get how you call that … They just wanted to even this up, I think.”
Brand: “For me, it’s just the delay of the call … I mean the delay of the call on Sid. Because it’s not like, oh in real time all this happens, you try to recollect on what just happened.”
Just incredible homerism here. Our guys would absolutely never say super homerish stuff like that:
"The man deserves an Oscar"
— Nick Piccone (@_piccone) April 24, 2026
"Mind you, somebody tell Sid the World Cup's not here until June"
lmao pic.twitter.com/jM0zwvlRLn
We’ve seen this for a couple decades now from Crosby, so it’s really no surprise he’d flop like that. What’s surprising is that the refs finally called him on it. They deserve a raise. Hell, after the Flyers win the Stanley Cup, let’s erect a statue outside of the Xfinity Mobile Arena paying homage to Francois St-Laurent and Jake Brenk. We’re gonna call it Not This Time. Bravo, fellas.
Nick Piccone has covered Philly sports and events for over 15 years with various outlets, including PhillyVoice.com and PhillyInfluencer.com. In 2015, he co-launched the Straight Shooters Podcast, focused on covering the professional wrestling industry. He was a producer at Fox Sports Radio Philadelphia and currently produces broadcast and social media content for the Villanova Sports Radio Network. He grew up in South Philadelphia and South Jersey, and is a graduate of Neumann University. Contact: picconenick@gmail.com