Sidney Crosby Shares Incredible Moment With a Flyers Fan After Earning His First Embellishment Penalty

Sidney Crosby earned his first embellishment penalty during Game 3. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Flyers beat the Penguins on Wednesday to take a 3-0 lead in their first round Stanley Cup playoffs series. These are desperate times for Pittsburgh and that calls for desperate measures. Maybe that's why Sidney Crosby went the extra mile to sell a stick hitting him in the face during the first period.

As Crosby got into position for a face-off late in the opening period, Philadelphia winger Garnet Hathaway skated by and adjusted his stick behind his back. The blade of the stick went right in front of Crosby's face and the Penguins' captain went down holding his face.

Hathaway immediately started accusing Crosby of diving and was sent to the penalty box for high-sticking. After a brief conversation, officials then sent Crosby to the box for embellishment.

None of the replays definitively show the stick making contact with Crosby's face, but the errant stick did at the very least come quite close. Who could really blame him for trying to draw a penalty with his team down 0-2 in the series? Beyond the Flyers and referees, at least.

However serious the contact was, this play is particularly notable for two reasons. First of all, this is the very first time Crosby has ever been called for embellishment in 21 seasons. That's 1,420 regular season games and another 183 playoff games.

After the game Crosby tried to wrap his head around the call. Via The Athletic:

“I don’t know how I end up with embellishing,” Crosby said. “It’s hard to understand.”

His coach couldn't believe it either.

“We don’t have a single embellishment (penalty) all year,” Dan Muse said. “Sidney Crosby doesn’t have an embellishment penalty in 21 seasons. The stick’s in his face. They take both of them. I disagree on that strongly. Not one. Not one on our team all season. We didn’t come into this series and start (embellishing now). Our guys have done a good job of that. And Sid doesn’t embellish.”

While Crosby disagreed with the call after the game, there was a brief interaction with a fan after he sat down in the penalty box that seemed to tell a different story and that's the real reason this is so notable.

Crosby and the fans all looked at the replay and the crowd seemed to agree that he had embellished. One Flyers fan specifically looked right at the Penguins star with a look that said you did that s--- and Crosby turned round to see it.

After making eye contact Crosby quickly turned away, smiled and shook his head.

pic.twitter.com/X7TkZGtwqz

— Devon (@DevonS93) April 22, 2026

This shot did not air on Turner or HBO and only appeared on the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast. Hopefully someone does the right thing and releases an HD version of this moment because it deserves to go down as an all-time reaction gif. It's like a more joyous version the Alonzo Mourning gif if there had been two Alonzo Mournings.

Sidney Crosby and a fan react to an embellishment call. | @DevonS93

Crosby and the Penguins will try to stave off elimination on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on TBS. With Crosby embellishing himself for a call in Game 3, the Penguins have shown themselves willing to do the unthinkable in order to gain an advantage. Referees would be wise to trust no one in Game 4

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