Sidney Crosby doesn’t like the Philadelphia Flyers. Not their fans, not their players. Especially their fans. After the Philadelphia Daily News put Crosby on its cover with the title – ‘The Cowardly Penguin’ playing on the Wizard of Oz, it’ll be interesting to see how fired up or out of focus Crosby will be in game 4 of their NHL playoff series.

No one likes to be shut out, no ones likes to be swept. Most of all, especially in a physical game like hockey, no one likes to be out-muscled and pushed aside. The Flyers weren’t the favorites when the series began, but they’re already 3-0 up, and their 8-4 win just showed how lost the Pens are, and how their best player, missing big chunks of the season, recovering from multiple concussions, isn’t handling the pressure and the defeats really well.

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Sidney Crosby should be focusing on putting his team back together, not acting like a spoiled and frustrated child because his team just didn’t show up to this playoff series. A series that has separated the men from the children, from those not ready, unprepared.

Max Talbot didn’t take Crosby too seriously after hearing his quote regarding not liking anyone on ‘that’ team. Talbot and Crosby were very good friends during Talbot’s Penguins time, and they still are.

He’s definitely a great friend. He was heated up in the moment and that’s OK. It’s not like I’m not going to talk to him after the series. I see Sid as such a great competitor. When things don’t go his way, he tries to do other things. He’s kind of like me, but with 10 times more skill. He’s going to do everything he can to spark his team to get a win.

Crosby didn’t vent out his frustration during the game on just one player. He jabbed Ilya BrBryzgalov’s glove against the ice after the whistle. Later he poked aside Jakub Voracek’s glove when he bent down to pick it up. Most memorably, he dropped his own gloves to get it on with Claude Giroux.

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And while Crosby is making this into a personal deal, the Flyers are simply fine with it, out to take out the entire team, which the Penguins don’t look remotely close to like now. Malkin has yet to score a goal in the series, while they’ve allowed three shorthanded goals. They’ve only scored three goals in power play situations.

One win, and it can turn around. That’s the usual mantra. That’s what Crosby is telling reporters. Problems is, the Flyers players and crowd are getting to him. With all eyes on him to take over and change the momentum in this series, it seems like the 2012 Sidney Crosby isn’t up for the task.