Bad beats are all over sports if you squint hard enough and know the lines sports bettors are agonizing over, but sometimes they stand out much more than others because of how horrifyingly cruel the loss becomes. That was certainly the case for anyone who had Devils +1.5 (-105) on Saturday afternoon, as Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby delivered one of the most brutal beats we’ve seen on the ice in some time.
The Penguins were trying to hang on with seconds to go against New Jersey on home ice, up 3-2 with the Devils desperately trying to find a goal in the closing seconds to force overtime. That meant the New Jersey goal was empty, with the Devils scrambling to tie the game with an extra attacker on the ice. After a close call in front — started by a stick literally exploding on a point shot — the puck went behind the goal with seconds to go. And instead of burying the puck in the corner to kill off the final seconds, Crosby wheeled around and went for goal to make a very specific group of people very mad.
He waited until the last millisecond, but of course Sidney Crosby scored… pic.twitter.com/amIrXIkEoM
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 24, 2021
As far as empty-net goals go, this one is particularly impressive. Just getting the puck out of the zone would be an accomplishment here, but Crosby is one of the greatest players in modern NHL history and not only did he rifle the puck about 185 feet in less than three seconds, he hit the net to boot. The puck crossed the goal line with 0.1 seconds on the clock, literally as late a goal as you can score in a regulation NHL game because the clock isn’t any more precise than that.
You can see on the video above, even Crosby had to watch on the video board hanging above the ice to see if he beat the clock. And the team’s Twitter account sort of just shrugged it off. But those who knew, knew. Including prominent NHL insider Elliotte Friedman.
https://twitter.com/friedgehnic/status/1386033658776195075?s=21
On top of being a back-breaking loss for the Devils puck line, it pushed total bets, which is painful for Under bettors who felt this one was locked up as well. As you may often hear on ESPN, it’s a goal that was certainly significant to some. And those on the wrong side of it will always have a bone to pick with Crosby’s 20th tally of the season.
