Sidney Crosby Slashed The Tip Of A Player’s Finger Off And The Result Was Horrifying

Sidney Crosby can do some impressive things with a hockey stick, but this is just plain gross.

The NHL’s leading goal scorer slashed a finger off of an opposing player on Thursday night, leaving the defenseman’s digit dangling in the wind.

Crosby gave Ottawa Senators defenseman Marc Methot a whack on the hands as he carried the puck into the Penguins zone with 5:23 left in the first period on Thursday night.

The slash initially looked harmless, and play was ruled dead on an offside. At first, Methot went over to Crosby to get in his face a bit for the slash, which clearly hurt. Crosby smiles and skates away, not thinking anything of the relatively routine bit of forechecking.

Then Methot took off his glove and OH MY GOD WHAT DID YOU DO SID?!?

The announcers seem to think Methot got his fingernail smashed up real good there but… well that little blur beneath his finger? That’s a drop of blood I’ve pointed out to distract you from the fact that something is dangling off Methot’s finger that shouldn’t be dangling and it looks like a whole lot more than a fingernail if you ask me.

Here’s a GIF of a defenseman casually examining his mangled finger, if you need it.

The gruesome slash came two days after Crosby did a “cup check” on Buffalo Sabres forward Ryan O’Reilly, who crumpled to the ice in pain. He wasn’t hurt as bad as Methot, obviously, but this world contains different kinds of pain and O’Reilly definitely experienced one of those kinds, if only briefly.

No penalty was called on either play. It’s tough to see a slash like that called a penalty during the normal run of play because it 1) happens so often and 2) usually doesn’t end in dismemberment. In O’Reilly’s case, however, it might have a lot to do with something Crosby did later in that game.

Clearly this guy can do a lot of impressive things with a hockey stick. That’s actually one of the more spectacular goals of his career, and the fact that it came between two straight heel moves this week might make it all the more striking. It probably won’t help his case with the people that call Crosby a cheater, though.

Methot is obviously going to miss some “weeks” with what’s being called a “shattered finger.” It’s an injury which significantly damages Ottawa’s playoff push. There’s no telling, however, if Crosby will actually be punished for essentially amputating a finger off a guy through a hockey glove. We’ll have to see where the NHL’s Wheel Of Justice lands, and that’s always an adventure when it comes to star players.