Penguins Notebook: Crosby gives his side of Murray spat

Thursday, March 22, 2007
By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Sidney Crosby admitted yesterday that he had words
with Ottawa coach Bryan Murray late in the first period of the
Penguins' 4-3 shootout victory Sunday at Mellon Arena.

And that a few of them might have been a bit coarse, for that matter,
although Crosby can't recall precisely how he phrased his thoughts.

"I'm sure I use the odd swear word when I'm on the ice," he said. "I'm
not going to sit here and say that I don't. I'm not an angel."

But Crosby flatly rejected the suggestion that he did anything other
than respond to a verbal assault by Murray, who accused him of
embellishing an interference infraction by Senators center Mike Comrie.

"There is absolutely nothing for me to gain by yelling at another
team's coach," Crosby said yesterday after a practice in Rye, N.Y.
"You can ask other coaches. I don't yell at coaches unless I'm being
yelled at by the coach."

Sunday, Crosby said, he was having words with players on the Ottawa
bench when Murray got involved.

"What happened was, one of their players had yelled something at me,"
Crosby said. "I don't know which guy. They were yelling at me from the
bench, so I was yelling stuff back at them."

At that point, Crosby said, Murray struck a pose with his arms folded
across his chest and spoke to him -- Crosby said he couldn't make out
Murray's words because of crowd noise and the usual tumult on the ice
-- which prompted Crosby to respond, "Why are you talking to me?"

Penguins coach Michel Therrien got involved then, Crosby said, and
began what became an animated exchange with Murray that carried over
into the first intermission.

Crosby said that incident was "not the first time" Murray has spoken
to him during a game, and that "there was absolutely no reason for him
to be yelling at me," echoing a point Therrien made after the game Sunday.

"If he wants to say that I'm disrespectful to him -- if he feels he
wants to do that -- that's fine," Crosby said. "It's not right, but,
if he wants to do that, so be it.

"I didn't speak to him until he started making gestures. But what I
was saying was, 'Why are you looking at me?' There was absolutely no
reason for him to be yelling at me."