A scene that sums up Penguins' series rally vs. Flyers for Sidney Crosby
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Sometimes these scenes write themselves.
As the pile of players cleared after the final horn sounded Monday night on a 3-2 Pittsburgh Penguins win to prolong their playoff series with the Philadelphia Flyers, there emerged Sidney Crosby.
The Pittsburgh captain had been on the bottom of the pile, which started with a scrum just as the buzzer sounded on the game.
A mass of players came together, pushing and shoving and swinging, before falling on the ice -- because sometimes, the ice is slippery even for professional hockey players.
It was hard to tell exactly what happened, but when the mess cleared, the last guy to get up was Crosby. He'd been below everyone else in that scrum.
And really, what sums up this Penguins series better than that?
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Pittsburgh was down and out, trailing 3-0 in the series, looking pretty lifeless.
But then they won Game 4 on the road to stay alive, and back home for Game 5, they won again.
They didn't stay down, even with a whole bunch of bodies on top of them. When the dust cleared, they found a way to stand back up.
Crosby, in many ways, is that means of standing.
He had two assists on Monday, and missed an empty net twice, once by about a foot and the other time hitting the post, both from very long distance.
And when Pittsburgh was defending late, Crosby won two crucial faceoffs to prevent the Flyers from getting right into their offense.
Even now, Crosby gets back up.
There's no telling how much more hockey he has to play, but it's clear he wants to keep playing.
And as long as the Penguins have Crosby willing to rise and fight another day, they've got a chance.