PITTSBURGH – The Penguins always have been an interesting franchise, saved from leaving town first in 1984 by conspiring to lose enough games the final six weeks of the season in order to be in position to draft Mario Lemieux, and then saved again in 2006 with a fortuitous victory in the post-lockout universal lottery that allowed the team to draft Sidney Crosby.
But as great a player as Lemieux was, he was an inveterate diver. As remarkable a player as Crosby is, the same charge has been made against him. In fact, The Post has learned, a league official spoke to No. 87 last season about the issue of embellishing.
The Rangers and Penguins will play Game 2 of their Eastern semifinal series here this afternoon in a game that will be telecast by NBC, the network also known as Nothing But Crosby. It should be a second-round dream match for the league.
Though the Blueshirts’ focus will be on tightening their game in the wake of Friday’s 5-4 defeat in which they repeatedly strayed from their assignments, the national spotlight now will be on the diving issue and the NHL’s perceived bias toward its headline act . . . and all because of Michel Therrien’s emotional and unsolicited defense of Crosby and attack on Tom Renney for even daring to suggest by implication that such an issue might exist.
Everyone now will be under scrutiny, including Crosby, the referees calling the game, and the announcers working it. If this series truly is going to be the Rangers against the world, it will be plainly and painfully obvious by dinner.
The subject of the debatable interference call Crosby drew on Martin Straka at 16:40 of the third that produced the power play on which Evgeni Malkin got the winner at 18:19 was not raised with Therrien at yesterday’s press briefing, yet the Pittsburgh head coach took the offensive.
“Where I’m kind of disappointed is that there’s gamesmanship before the series about Sidney drawing penalties. And I’m disappointed. I’m kind of disappointed,” Therrien said. “We all know what Tom Renney is trying to do.
“He tried to do it before we started the series. He tried to do it last night; I saw his comments today. He’s trying to get attention to the referees and complaining last night about the penalty at the end of the game. . . . We know what he’s trying to do.”
When Therrien completed his tribute to Crosby and to the rule changes adopted by the league following the lockout, he was asked if a player of Crosby’s stature deserved more respect.
“Enough is enough,” Therrien said, abruptly ending the session. “Enough.”
On Thursday, prompted by a question from a Post reporter about Crosby’s penchant for embellishing, Renney said he would speak to the series supervisor about a number of topics. Following Friday’s game, he said, “Draw your own conclusion,” when asked about Straka’s penalty.
Renney yesterday did not seem amused by the charges from the opposing coach much as he was not amused last year when a pre-Round 2 comment about the Sabres perhaps not being the “cream of the crop” became a running headline in Buffalo.
“I don’t recall ever suggesting Sidney himself was an issue,” Renney said. “I didn’t suggest anybody was outside the rules. I left that to others to conclude.”
Today, everyone will have that chance on the Nothing But Crosby network.