It comes as no surprise that the NHL didn’t take any discipline against Sidney Crosby. The Pens superstar mixed it up during last night’s Game 6 loss to the Rangers. Frustrated, he speared Dominic Moore during a scrum. Moore retaliated with a cross check. The previous game, he exchanged pleasantries with Crosby. Looks like they won’t be exchanging Christmas cards.

That wasn’t the only incident. Crosby also slew footed Dan Girardi. Nothing was called on the play. Even if not ruled a slew foot, it’s a trip from behind to an unsuspecting player.

In both instances, it was Crosby bending the rules. This is nothing new. When things don’t go his or the Pens’ way, they resort to such borderline tactics. Considering how a slanted Pens media whined over Marc Staal’s unpenalized cross check to Crosby’s back and neck area, it is what it is. These kind of things happen during the heat of battle.

Even Henrik Lundqvist got involved during a stoppage giving Sid a little taste of his water bottle. A day removed from Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton doing the same to P.K. Subban during play, he was fined $2,800. It was more publicized with Subban making light of the situation.

”Somebody sprayed water on my visor at the end of the game. I couldn’t see out of half of it,” Subban said after the Canadiens lost Game 5 to the Bruins 4-2. ”I don’t want it to be bulletin board material.”

”As a coach, you always want to support your players. But there’s certain things you can’t support,” Boston coach Claude Julien said yesterday. ”I don’t think I can support Shawn on those actions. To me, I don’t think we like seeing our players do that. Now whether he got caught up in the game or whatever, to me he’s got to own up to it.”

Such incidents are common occurrence during the postseason. It would be nice to see players show more respect for one another. But when they’re battling for every inch, any advantage they can get is taken even if it means gamesmanship. At some point tomorrow in Game 7, you know both sides will push the envelope. Only one team will advance. The other is going home.