Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby returned to active play today after a short bout with an illness that apparently we are now duty-bound to say was not COVID. Back in action, Crosby wasted no time entering a new bout, this time with Nic Dowd, who was not informed ahead of time that he was about to get punched in the face.

After Crosby won a faceoff, he and Dowd got wrapped in each other as the puck passed them by. Crosby expressed his displeasure by cold-cocking Dowd with a left.

#ALLCAPS Crosby punches Dowd. to me this should be more than a 2 minute minor pic.twitter.com/bQOTFlt2Vv

— Capitals Replays (@capsreplays) April 9, 2022

Dmitry Orlov scored on the same play, so the official stat sheet doesn’t record what the penalty would have been. It’s marked just as a delayed penalty. But we have to assume it would have been a minor, which I suppose is a choice.

The Penguins lead 3-2 after one period.