Sidney Crosby tosses water bottle on ice before Penguins goal (Video)

PITTSBURGH – It slipped. But should play have stopped?

That’s the question that was asked during Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, as Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby accidentally let his water bottle fly onto the ice before Phil Kessel scored their fifth goal of the game in a blowout effort against the Nashville Predators.

The weird play happened during the second period.

Check it out:

As you can see, Crosby was protesting a slash by Mattias Ekholm of the Nashville Predators on his friend and teammate Chris Kunitz, lifting his arms in the air. And, in the process, tossing his water bottle on the ice, apparently by accident.

He later huddled up with a linesman and appeared to explain his faux pas to linesman Brian Murphy.

The broadcast seemed to indicate that he threw his water bottle at Mattias Ekholm, which kinda fails the sniff test as far as logic goes. Unless he thought he had an arm like Ben Roethlisberger.

Now, as far as whether play should have been stopped when the water bottle was launched into the Predators’ zone, here’s what the NHL rulebook says:

Now, this is usually applicable to objects tossed from the stands onto the ice, but it would apply here – if the object interfered with the progress of the game, which it didn’t, as it was behind the play. It didn’t affect Kessel’s goal.

Hey, if you want to get bent out of shape about Crosby skirting the rules, well, there’s always this in Game 5. How does Crosby get a holding penalty and not a roughing as well?

Meanwhile, Crosby’s odd relationship with water bottles in the playoffs continues.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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