Obviously I wouldn’t want for any bickering over the pros and cons of fighting, but this is just an example for it in the way you get the true leadership qualities out of your team. Regardless if the hit was clean or not, certainly I’d love to see then Pens get a hit that epic, the team’s captain, who so many denounce as a whimp, pounces without thinking twice about it, and stands up against the other team. It seemed as though he didn’t want them to out physical the team, or let that hit stick with the team or Malkin throughout the game. Kind of a negative into a positive.

So, what ever it may be, I think it’s fair game. Any player who gets an up-ending hit like that should know the other team more than likely would have some serious say about it, strong hit equals chippiness, and chippiness always leads to some scrap.

My hat’s off to Sid for throwing caution to the wind, and trying to remind the Panthers that physicality can even come from him. I always think when Sid gets into these little shove downs, not technically fights really, it gets the team on their toes.

See if something as simple as that get’s us out of these past two games and back on a hot streak.

I’m with lavender on this one Frank. I think retaliation was necessary. Be it a big hit or someone letting ballard know that lining up Malkin WILL NOT be tolerated. While I understand what you’re saying about Sid not being the guy to do it, then I must ask, who? An enforcer does no good if he’s not on the ice with the stars. I am not a fan of the 4th line staged fight enforcer. You check our stars, we check your stars and these two uninvolved pugilists will take it out on each other. Seems silly to me. That is one of the bigger things Malone brought to the team. If he was still here it would have been him not Sid. Basically Sid said “lay off Malkin or we will have problems” and I applaud that. No one dared lay a hand on Gretz or Mario in the earlier part of their careers because there would be hell to pay, even for a legal hit.

Yeah I agree with you guys, a player has to protect his teammates.

Sure with the basis of replays we can go back and tell the hit was clean, but the players only saw it from one angle at real speed. And what they saw was Malkin get dumped on his head with what could have been perceived as a low hip check.

I got no problem with standing up for your buddies. Sometimes it has to be done, and I think this falls under that scenario even if Ballard didn’t merit a penalty, someone had to do something.

Nothing illegal or unsportsmanlike about the majority of Ballard’s checks.

The bottom line is Sid’s got an anger fetish toward the Cats, looking for an excuse. The guy is pure rage whenever he lines up against them.

What was difficult to see in the video – but plainly clear in person – was Crosby wheeling around instantaneously following the check, gloves flying, streaking like a madman toward Ballard without giving any rational thought to the action. It wasn’t hockey-mad; almost appears more primal.

I’m with Hooks and jayhitscar – there’s no instant replay feed to the players that they can evaluate before taking action. Crosby saw that Malkin took a hard hit and went for Ballard. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn’t have, but in that situation, I think Crosby stood up and did what he needed to do.

As soon as i seen it i knew it was a clean hit. But, yes there is a but. It is the captins job to stand up for his teammates regardless of what his job is on the ice. In a 1-1 game he shent the message that i won’t let you take liberty with our stars. And like Jayhitcar pointed out there is no instant replay for the players so its a matter of them reacting to a situation. There was no mallace in Crosbys actions like Whale4ever attempted to point out. Simply a reaction

Weather the hit warrented or any hart hit warrents retalation is another matter. I’m one of the people who thinks fighting is part of the game and should remain a part of it. So after delivering a hart hit the guy gets in a fight… Its a part of doing business

I’m pretty indifferent about whether fighting should be part of hockey; if 2 guys choose to square off and pummel the crap out of each other, that’s their business. But I think “The Code”, and the whole idea that players need to “avenge” things for one another, is a bunch of childish nonsense. It’s a physical sport; if you’re a scorer trying to make a play, you have to know that it’s the d-man’s job to stop you, and if he hits you legally, that’s hockey, even if you get drilled. I used to play wing, and I was always taught that you take it like a grown-up if you get hit cleanly: you get up, you finish your shift, and maybe you take an extra aspirin that night before you go to bed. A few years ago, when the whole Steve Moore/Markus Naslund thing culminated in one of the nastiest cheap shots I’ve ever seen, I was never able to shake the feeling that the Canucks were acting like complete drama queens over Moore. So, I guess I’d have to disagree with some of the other posters that hard hits necessarily require revenge of some kind.

And if it has to happen, I guess I’d really prefer that it wasn’t Crosby doing the fighting. In a game where we needed offense, I’m not sure it helped to have the second-leading scorer in the NHL in the penalty box for seven minutes. And you can ask Derek Broussard or Mike Komisarek about whether there’s any risk of injury in a fight.

1) It was a clip. Clips never get called, so I’m not surprised this one wasn’t, either. I wouldn’t necessarily call it “dirty” though. I reserve that kind of thing for boarding, hits from behind, or elbows to the head. Stick stuff, too, obviously.

2) Like Wyshynski said, you see Malkin with his skates in the air and neck bent funny as he’s hitting the ice, and you react. Landing an inch different either way and Malkin might have been done, and not just for the season. If nobody had done anything about it, it would be a crime. And this from a guy who hates that fighting’s still allowed. :p

Is sending a message worth taking your team and one of its best players off the power play? Florida said that hit was a momentum shift for them after the game ended. If Pitt managed to score on that PP whose to say it wouldn’t have posed as their momentum change?

The real-time reaction is a good one since yes, it is impossible to see the replay of whether or not it was a good hit. I guess it does come as some relief that Ballard said he expected the retaliation. If anything though that also poses as him admitting that the hit took Pitt off their game and ultimately swung it in favor of Florida.

I still believe the retaliation could have waited though. At least until after the PP. I would’ve loved to see Orpik line someone up too as a way of sending a message. The location of the hit wasn’t much different than the location of Scuderi’s hit on Zubrus Wednesday night. That one looked like it was in slow motion. Although Zubrus isn’t a top goal scorer for the Devils, why didn’t that one draw a reaction from NJ?

All three of his tussles this year have come with asterisks on them, as in, a) why is he fighting at this point? or b) What the *%#& was he thinking? and so on.

It’s nice to see a captain stand up for his players, but…come on, that hit was clean. I don’t buy the argument that oh, just because it was a star that got hit, someone needs to start a fight to defend their honor or something. If a star is hit, then, well, they weren’t being athletic enough or star enough at the moment to avoid it.

As a Red Wings fan, a) I’m glad that team’s stars are capable of taking care of themselves (recall Datsyuk going after people in the SCF last year, belying his multiple Lady Byng awards). Even when they are bothered, it’s not Lidstrom’s job to take care of the issue…

In this case, due to circumstances, the Pens enforcers weren’t in the lineup, so maybe that’s why Crosby felt it necessary to try and regulate….but it’s just weird, he shouldn’t be the guy doing it, and especially not after a clean, albeit visually spectacular hit

To me, that may have been the best thing I have ever seen Sid do. Without hesitation he went after a player who had just crushed one of his teammates. Whether the hit was clean or not is irrelevant. When one your players gets wrecked, be it a star player or not, someone needs to step in and show that the team is willing to protect each other. He went after Ballard face to face and stood up for Malkin like any great captain would. I’ve been coaching for over fifteen years and I would expect any player on my team to react the same way. People continue to question Crosby and he continues to prove these people wrong. He is a true leader with a desire to win like nobody else.

The goal at the start and the end of the period are indicators that the Penguins were not playing at the same level of the Panthers yesterday. The Panthers wanted it more. What bothered me is that Sid’s fight, in my opinion, should have been a rallying point for the Pens. When you see Sid go in and defend one of his teammates and fight like that, the rset of the team should have taken notice and rallied behind him and his leadership. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. My experience has been when someone on my team sticks up for his teammates, it lifts them up and they play harder.

And I totally agree with you Frank.

Some of this I covered on my own, but that was a clean hit, Crosby just looks like a petulant little s**t for going after Ballard on a clean hit.

I have had enough of the fighting on clean hits. It absolutely has to stop. What are they trying to do, remove hitting by scaring someone into it? Ridiculous.

A petulant litte s**t, way off base neide, nobody is debating whether it was a clean hit or not. What you might not be aware of is that their is a code and when a star player gets hit, the other team has to know they won’t get away with it. If not, guys like Crosby, Malkin, and Ovechkin will be targets all night long and without any consequence to the players doing it. Take note that Ballard knew somebody would be coming and that it was the right thing for Crosby to do. It is part of the game that exists so that players are not always being targeted. And the fact that Crosby was the one who went after Ballard will only serve to change the minds of many doubters of Sid in a positive way, especially his teammates and other players around the league.

So Don Cherry is the be all and end all? I never knew that. I’ve played the game and have been coaching for over fifteen years and trust me there is a code. To not believe that, you are only kidding yourself. It’s this code that has always existed which helps keep players accountable for their actions, and I for one hope it never changes. Whenever a star player gets hit hard, be it clean or not, there will be a reaction. This goes back to Gretzky’s days and even before that. Those are my thoughts based on years of being around the game.

I don’t believe I ever mentioned anything about star players getting away with anything they want. Like pete5597 said, both Ballard and Crosby did the right thing. In fact, I think I said the opposite which is that players would be able to get away with anything if there wasn’t a code of protecting your top players. Crosby did it the right way and should be commended and not chastised.

The point made about Iginla and Lecavalier probably doing the same thing, is an excellent one. They have done the same thing in the past and are praised for it as they should be. They are considered to be among the best captains in the league and I think that this shows Sid wants to be in that class. The key here is it was a reaction in the heat of the moment and Crosby reacted as he deemed necessary, something a good leader would do. He didn’t go cheap shot Ballard, he fought him straight up and clean. We can all sit here after the fact and state our opinions, but we have the option of looking back and seeing what happened, something Sid didn’t. Whenever a star player is hit hard, there is always going to be a rection, whether it be a fight or getting the guy with a good hit later on. That will never change. Good on you Sid, you continue to grow as a leader and I respect that.

Frank, I agree with you completely that, given the situation and Sid’s value to the offense, it was not a smart decision. As far as all the arguments about a “real leader” being someone who “sticks up for his teammates”, etc., there are many, many players who were great leaders that never seemed to need to do what Sid did. How many times did Steve Yzerman jump in and fight someone after they hit one of his teammates? Or Joe Sakic? Even a guy like Mark Messier, who was as tough as they come and a great leader, rarely dropped the gloves in an important game.

Part of being a great leader is knowing your role on the team, and leading by example in not straying from that role. So in that respect I didn’t think it was a good move. Not saying that Sid isn’t a great player and that he won’t be a great captain, but it’s easy to forget that he’s still a young guy and there may be things he still has to learn.