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Sidney Crosby sucker-punches Capitals forward Nic Dowd

Sidney Crosby took out some frustration on Nic Dowd. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images)

In his old age, Sidney Crosby has apparently had enough.

During Saturday’s game against the Washington Capitals, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain was seemingly frustrated with opposing centre Nic Dowd, tying him up with his stick, then deciding to deal an unexpected left hook to his mouth.

That is some punch; maybe Crosby should take up amateur boxing once he retires.

The call was going to be a minor penalty on the ice, but the Capitals stormed quickly down the ice and defenceman Dmitry Orlov scored his 11th goal of the season, nullifying the delayed call. Crosby would have been dinged with two penalty minutes on his record, but he’s getting off clean in the box score.

As one of the most talented players in the league, Crosby is certainly not known for any acts of violence, but there’s always something about playing against the rival Capitals that gets his goat.

Earlier this season, the 34-year-old avoided any suspension for tossing around a Washington defenceman behind the play.

There seems to be a theme here.

And retaliatory sucker-punches have been prominent in hockey this season. In one of the first games of the year, Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin reacted to getting driven into the boards by Mathieu Joseph, and proceeded to deal a vicious swinging punch as he started to skate away.

Larkin was immediately kicked out of the game and given a match penalty, and then was suspended for one game after the fact.

Could the NHL’s Department of Player Safety determine that Larkin was reacting to a physical play and differentiate it from Crosby’s punch, since he was just acting out of frustration of a standard hockey play? Possibly. And they will certainly take into consideration the lack of substantial in-game penalty given to the Penguins centre.

Whether or not the DoPS is going to hold a call with Crosby has not yet been announced.

Through 59 regular season games, Crosby has scored 26 goals and 72 points.

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