Mark Madden: Jacob Trouba hit on Sidney Crosby was ugly, intentional and typical for NHL

If Sidney Crosby’s series is over, so is the Pittsburgh Penguins’ season.

Sure, the Penguins lead their first-round series with the New York Rangers, 3-2. But for Friday’s Game 6, they may be without their best player/captain/first-line center, their starting and second-string goalies, a top-pair defenseman and a top-six winger.

Crosby’s early exit after a high hit by the Rangers’ Jacob Trouba hurt the Penguins badly in Wednesday’s 5-3 loss at New York.

But it didn’t make them allow three goals in 162 seconds. That turned a 2-0 lead into a 3-2 deficit. The best approach sans Crosby was to weather the storm. The Penguins didn’t.

As for Trouba’s hit, it was high, bad, involved his elbow and looked intentional.

Do I think Trouba was looking to knock Crosby out of the game? Absolutely. The Rangers targeted Crosby from game’s beginning. Trouba elbowed Jake Guentzel in the head not long after the opening draw. Ryan Lindgren of the Rangers eliminated the Penguins’ Rickard Rakell from the series with a high hit in Game 1.

But Evgeni Malkin cross-checked the Rangers’ Kevin Rooney in the face. So, Malkin is no better, especially given his four-game suspension for a similar offense during the regular season.

Trouba’s hit and its result doesn’t invoke outrage on my behalf. It’s more numbing.

The NHL just doesn’t want to get rid of that kind of hit. To the old Canadian stooges who really control the NHL, hits like that are what make hockey hockey. It equates toughness with skill and gives Trouba, to some small degree, the chance to be a factor like Crosby.

That sounds ridiculous, except Trouba knocked Crosby out of the game and maybe the series. That makes Trouba a major factor.

If the NHL wanted to eliminate high hits, make what Trouba did an automatic major, ejection and one-game suspension. Suspensions get doubled for every repeat offense.

If it’s an “accident,” too bad. The major, ejection and suspension still apply. Provide an excuse to not do it, not an excuse for having done it. Punish any hit to the head. Make players control what they do. You would minimize such hits inside of a season.

But, again, the NHL doesn’t want to get rid of that kind of hit.

ESPN’s Ray Ferraro said that Crosby took an “awkward fall.” Ferraro said Trouba’s elbow “grazed” Crosby.

Ferraro knows what he saw. He’s lying. But the NHL has no problem with that lie. It’s the institutional protection of a misguided and damaging egalitarianism.

So, what happened to Crosby absolutely stinks. The Penguins won’t win games he doesn’t play in. Their burden was already heavy, and Crosby was carrying much of it.

But I’m too weary to be mad. Just too used to the NHL putting itself knee-deep in utter horse manure.

Nobody ever turned on the TV to watch Trouba. But the NHL protects him, not Crosby. Imagine if some mid-level NBA player did something dastardly to LeBron James.

I frequently compose variations of this column. If you’re tired of reading them, I’m 10 times more tired of having to write them.

The Penguins don’t need to be bigger and tougher. That sort of presence would not deter Trouba from what he did.

Anyway, that’s not the Penguins’ style. Their motto under Sullivan is “just play,” and it has served them well. The Penguins very rarely embarrass themselves.

That’s a problem, too. Trouba won’t be ashamed. In too many circles, he’ll get credit for changing the course of the series. He’s a dressing-room hero, that’s for certain.

That’s not Trouba’s fault. That’s not the Rangers’ fault. That’s not the media’s fault.

That’s the NHL’s fault. That’s the mentality the NHL has tolerated, if not encouraged. That’s the game the NHL created.

Hockey should be so much more.