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Greg Wishynski
multiple authors
Philadelphia– Sidney Crosby I was the last player to stop pittsburgh penguins‘ He was removed after the locker room philadelphia flyers In overtime of Game 6 on Wednesday night, it was slowly slipping out of gear before facing another offseason of uncertainty. Was this Penguins’ superstar Crosby’s last game, evgeni malkin And chris letang will play together?
Crosby said after the Flyers, “It might be a little early for it. We’ll have a few days to digest everything and evaluate stuff.” win 1-0 Gave Philadelphia a 4–2 series win in the Battle of Pennsylvania.
They have been teammates since 2006, when Crosby was in his second season. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup three times during his era. They are the longest-tenured trio of teammates in North American sports history, surpassing the records of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada. New York Yankees (17 seasons) three years ago.
Crosby led the Penguins with five points in six games against the Flyers. Malkin had two goals and one assist. Letang had two goals, both game winners.
Crosby, 38, is under contract for next season. Letang, 39, is signed until 2028. But Malkin, 39, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Malkin has expressed his desire to remain with the Penguins next season and said last month that he and general manager Kyle Dubas would talk about his future after the playoffs.
Both Letang and Malkin were unavailable to the media after Game 6. Standing near Malkin’s empty stall, Crosby said it was “probably hard to put into words” what he meant to him as a teammate.
Crosby said, “Honestly, it’s something we’ve probably got to get used to, but I think they’re like family. I think that’s the best way to describe it.” “We’ve had some great wins, some tough losses, too. Ultimately, though, it’s been a long time since we’ve played together. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to play with them for as long as we have. Hopefully we can keep moving forward.”
Dan Muse watched Crosby, Malkin and Letang from a distance before becoming their coach this season.
“You hear how people talk about these three guys and then you see it in person and it’s special. I mean, they’ve been doing what they’ve been doing for so long, at such a high level, they just keep rising and finding different levels,” Muse said.
Muse said the trio staying on the same team for 20 seasons is an underrated achievement in the game.
He said, “I honestly don’t think those three get enough credit for the fact that they’ve been doing it together for so long.” “It hasn’t been done before in sports in North America, and there’s a reason for that, because it’s ridiculously difficult and it’s very unusual and it takes special people to be able to do it.”
The Penguins came back from down 3–0 in the series to push the Flyers to a sixth game in Philadelphia. The game ended in a spectacular goaltending duel between Pittsburgh arters silos (31 saves) and Philadelphia’s Dan Vladar (42 saves) By Flyers Defenseman cam york Hit a shot through Sillove at 17:32 of overtime for the game winner.
It was the first playoff series win for the Flyers since 2020. Philadelphia moved forward to face carolina storm In the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has not won a playoff series since 2018. This was the Penguins’ first appearance in the playoffs since 2022, a season when many pundits did not have Pittsburgh making the postseason cut in preseason predictions.
Crosby said, “I think we understand these kinds of expectations. I don’t think it takes away the sting right now.” “But I think when we have time to look back at the season, there’s a lot of things to like. Maybe that’s the reality of it.”
