Muse explodes after Crosby embellishment call as Penguins fall into 3-0 hole

The call came late in the first period. Garnet Hathaway high-sticked Crosby at 18:47, and the officials handed out both penalties simultaneously, negating the power play entirely.

Muse went directly after the referees post-game, and his frustration was sharp and specific. "We don't have a single embellishment all year," he said. "Sidney Crosby doesn't have an embellishment in 21 seasons. Stick in his face, they take both of them. I disagree on that strongly."

He kept going. "We didn't come into this series to start embellishing now. Sid doesn't embellish."

That is a coach who has watched his team get outplayed three straight games and is now looking for answers wherever he can find them.

The Penguins lost 5-2. Philadelphia scored three unanswered goals in the second period to put it away. The Flyers are now up 3-0 in the series.

Crosby had no goals and no assists through the first two games of this series. Wednesday night was more of the same.

Muse's anger is understandable, but the embellishment call is a single moment in a game that Pittsburgh was already losing. The Flyers went 2-for-3 on the power play. The Penguins went 2-for-5.

Philadelphia out-hit Pittsburgh 44 to 27. They won 58.2 percent of face-offs. This team has been the better team in this building and on the road since Game 1.

Evgeni Malkin scored the only Pittsburgh power play goal of the night, his first of the series. Through two games he had 2 points. Kris Letang is a -4 in this series and has no points.

When your two legendary veterans are invisible and your captain is getting flagged for embellishment calls in a 3-0 series hole, the officiating is not the story. The structure is.

The Flyers' three stars were Sean Couturier, Trevor Zegras, and Rasmus Ristolainen. Ristolainen had 2 playoff assists before this game. He now has 4. He is not a guy Pittsburgh planned to worry about.

Muse took over as head coach last summer. This is the first playoff run of his tenure, and right now it is circling the drain faster than anyone expected when Pittsburgh punched its ticket.

Game 4 is Saturday in Philadelphia. The Penguins have not come back from 3-0 in franchise history. Nobody has ever done it in the NHL.

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