Penguins stave off elimination in Game 5 as postgame brawl erupts after late hit on Sidney Crosby

The Pittsburgh Penguins staved disconnected elimination for the 2nd consecutive crippled with a clutch Game 5 triumph implicit the Philadelphia Flyers connected Monday night, but celebrations were concisely halted erstwhile a skirmish erupted implicit a arguable deed connected Sidney Crosby aft the last buzzer.

Flyers guardant Travis Konecny recovered himself astatine the halfway of the scrum — and the contention — aft helium appeared to cross-check Sidney Crosby aft the crippled ended, marking the 2nd incidental involving Konecny this bid to gully criticism.

Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby collides with Philadelphia Flyers' Travis Konecny during the archetypal play of Game 2 successful the archetypal circular of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs successful Pittsburgh connected April 20, 2026. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

A monolithic combat broke retired with Crosby and Konecny astatine the bottommost of the pileup. 

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Eventually, the players were separated, but fans connected societal media called retired Konecny for his "dirty" plays successful the first-round series.

"No mode Konecny would present 1 of the cheapest transverse checks connected Crosby to extremity the game," 1 idiosyncratic wrote connected X. 

Travis Konecny of the Philadelphia Flyers reacts aft a Pittsburgh Penguins extremity during the 2nd play of Game Five successful the archetypal circular of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs astatine PPG Paints Arena successful Pittsburgh, Pa., connected April 27, 2026. (Justin Berl/Getty Images)

"Examples are excessively galore [to] count. But different illustration of the store league @NHL @NHLPlayerSafety not protecting its stars and players," different idiosyncratic added. "Nobody has ever bought a summons oregon tuned successful to ticker Travis Konecny. A good oregon supplemental subject should occur. But won’t."

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The Athletic’s Josh Yohe adjacent accused Konecny of hitting Crosby with "clear intent to injure."

"It’s a nasty bid and some teams person crossed lines. But nary 1 has been cheaper/more soiled successful this bid than Konecny, whose transverse cheque of Crosby aft the crippled had ended was wide intent to injure. Earlier successful this series, Konecny tried to footwear Rust. Very soiled player." 

The "kick" Yohe referenced took spot successful Game 3. 

Pittsburgh Penguins' Bryan Rust wrestles with Philadelphia Flyers' Travis Konecny during the 2nd play of Game 3 successful the archetypal circular of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs successful Philadelphia connected April 22, 2026. (Matt Slocum/AP)

Konecny appeared to footwear Bryan Rust during an altercation, but helium denied it, telling reporters during his postgame presser that helium did not callback immoderate kicking.

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Connor Dewar, Kris Letang, and Elmer Soderblom scored and Crosby had 2 assists connected Monday nighttime to chopped the Flyers' pb to 3-2 and unit Game 6 connected Wednesday. 

"I deliberation that’s thing we pridefulness ourselves connected each year. Throughout the play we’ve been successful antithetic situations and I deliberation that we’ve done a large occupation of handling adversity and again here, we’re faced with more," Crosby said aft the win. "It doesn’t get immoderate easier, truthful we cognize it's a large situation going into there. But we person a batch of content successful our group, we’ve done it clip and clip again."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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