In the opening playoff round against Philadelphia this spring, Crosby got tagged for his very first diving infraction across a career spanning 21 NHL seasons.
That notable instant for Pittsburgh's captain unfolded during the third game of the Flyers series, and clearly the city's sports diehards have no intention of letting him forget it anytime soon.
Eliminated by Carolina one round later, Philadelphia recently let supporters apply paint straight onto the surface of its home rink, Xfinity Mobile Arena. One of them took care to render Crosby's theatrical tumble on the precise spot where the moment occurred.
The finished creation, which I'm happy to deem a genuine artistic effort, landed on X courtesy of the user @\_katecarr, as shown below.
Colored half black and half orange, the shape rested inside the offensive zone's left faceoff circle, the very spot where Crosby sought to bait a penalty against Philadelphia's Garnet Hathaway. Hovering over the sprawled-out figure, the artist scribbled a note marking a two-minute diving minor along with "R.I.P BOZO," an apt flourish for a rivalry set that brimmed with tit-for-tat trolling.
The lighthearted shot comes on the heels of the muted protest Crosby and his teammates staged once the whistle went against them. Their bid to confer with the officiating supervisor for the series was turned down.
Pittsburgh bench boss Dan Muse contended that his club had gone the whole year without any embellishment whatsoever, and that across 21 seasons Crosby carries no such infraction. A stick had been in the captain's face, Muse argued, yet the officials assessed both players, a ruling he firmly disputed while insisting that Crosby simply doesn't dive.
Across the six-game series with Philadelphia, Crosby was blanked in three contests. His output landed beneath a point-per-game clip, a five-point showing (1g, 4a) that marked his return to playoff action after a 2022 absence.