Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby felt the need to rally his teammates on Friday night, so at 37 years of age, he dropped his gloves and traded blows with Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor.
The fight came with the Penguins down 3-0 early in the third period.
However, the scuffle was short-lived as a linesman was caught in between the two players, but not before both parties landed a few jabs and went down to the ice.
SIDNEY CROSBY AND KYLE CONNOR DROP THE GLOVES AND GO AT IT 😳 pic.twitter.com/diuvLyIMFw
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 23, 2024
It wasn’t the best showing for Sid but it had far more to do with rallying his teammates than lumping Connor up.
“He’s one of the greatest players of all-time and he does everything right, on and off the ice,” rookie Owen Pickering said, via TribLive. “To have him step up and try to get us going was commendable. It was pretty cool to see.”
Connor was far less amused with the entire situation and took exception to Crosby’s aggression.
“Yeah, I mean, he didn’t like the hit apparently,” Connor said. “Was going to the net, saw a kind of cross-check there. Was going to regroup and he came up to me, a couple of cross-checks. It just kind of happened. We’re not taking s–t from anybody. So that’s kind of where it transpired. It just kind of escalated.”
The Penguins did score a goal not long after the fight but it was far from enough. The Jets ultimately skated away with a 4-1 victory.
For Sidney Crosby, who did not speak to reporters after the game, it was just his third fight since 2015 and the 10th of his 20-year NHL career.
