Sidney Crosby can appreciate a good chirp when he hears one.
Crosby took one penalty in the Penguins' 7-2 win over the Rangers on Wednesday, a tripping call at 2:55 of the first period. Seated next to the penalty box was 31-year-old firefighter and Rangers fan Nick Lipeika.
Lipeika, wanting to come up with ridiculous heckling that Crosby had never heard before, started rolling out the jabs. First, he said that Evgeni Malkin would have more Stanley Cups if Malkin had a better supporting cast. Next, Lipeika went all the way back to the Penguins' stars' rookie seasons.
"The only thing I knew is Malkin had the Calder Memorial Trophy and Crosby didn't," Lipeika told NHL.com. "So as he was sitting there I was just like, 'Hey, how does it feel knowing Malkin has a Calder Trophy and you don't. Just asking for a friend. He wants to know where yours is.'"
Crosby heard the shots loud and clear, and jokingly made some comments in return.
When the game ended, a Penguins team trainer walked across the ice with a stick and puts it over the glass, motioning to Lipeika. Lipeika didn't understand why he was being given a Penguins stick, until he looked at the inscription.
[caption id="attachment_755004" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Sidney Crosby's stick. -- NHL.COM[/caption]
"I was like, wow, that's a power move," said Lipeika. "I mean, talk about a one-up. Not only did he have a great game against us, but then he one-ups you by giving you a stick and gets the last word in. That's why he's so good."
Crosby had to reward the fan for his creative jabs.
"It was a unique, New York experience," Crosby told NHL.com. "He got the section going and it was all in good taste. It doesn't happen too often like that and it gave me a good laugh. I thought I'd let him know I appreciated his efforts."
Lipeika has a newfound respect for the Penguins captain after the gesture.
"Oh God, a hundred percent," Lipeika said. "His hope is that the Penguins fans do the same to whoever comes into their building, their arena. It's easy to hate the good players that aren't on your team, so I have never been a Crosby fan mainly because he plays really well and he plays really well against us. It's hard to like him, but talk about a class act, a real just ambassador to the sport. It was such a great experience and I'm just the lucky guy that was on the right end of the stick, no pun intended, I guess."
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