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Trotz calls accusations against Caps ‘ridiculous’

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Mike Milbury and Keith Jones say Matt Niskanen deserved a five-minute major and ejection for not being in control of his stick but say it was a reactionary play with no premeditation.

Barry Trotz thinks it’s “ridiculous” that anyone would accuse the Washington Capitals of intentionally injuring Sidney Crosby.

He called that sort of commentary “noise.”

“It’s like a car accident,” the Caps’ head coach told reporters this morning. “You have your side how it happened, and the other person will have his side.”

Trotz was obviously talking about that column by Rob Rossi, a Pittsburgh reporter who wrote that:

1. Alex Ovechkin should be suspended for the rest of the playoffs for his slash on Crosby.

2. Matt Niskanen should be suspended for the rest of the second round for his crosscheck on Crosby.

3. After losing the first two games of the series in Washington, the Capitals got together and hatched a plan to take out Crosby. That plan came together last night in Pittsburgh.

It was quite the take.

Oh, and it was Rossi in last night’s post-game press conference who sarcastically asked Trotz if Ovechkin’s slash was a “hockey play,” the same phrase Trotz had used to describe Niskanen’s check on Crosby.

Trotz responded by calling it a “terrible question.”

As everyone knows by now, Ovechkin was not penalized on the play, and Niskanen will not be suspended.

The one thing we don’t yet know is when Crosby will be back. Game 4 goes tomorrow in Pittsburgh. The Pens lead the Caps, 2-1.

As for Rossi, he went on TSN 1050 (Toronto) radio this morning to defend his column.

“I think you have to take it in the prism of I’ve covered a lot concussion-related incidents in my time around the Penguins since Sidney Crosby came into the league,” Rossi said. “I have been consistent, whether it’s Matt Cooke or whether it’s Chris Kunitz, Alex Ovechkin, I err on the side of severe discipline even if it’s accidental or incidental contact because I just don’t think this league or these teams take head injuries seriously.”

But Rossi also seemed to walk back his accusation that the Caps’ meeting following Game 2 was about taking out Crosby. (“If they say it wasn’t about eliminating Crosby, the Capitals are liars,” Rossi wrote.)

“What was discussed in that meeting, I don’t know,” Rossi told TSN 1050. “I never claimed to have intel about what the meeting was about. Obviously, the job of a columnist is to be provocative. That’s what I was going for there.”

Related: Capitals, Penguins reflect on Crosby’s ‘gut-wrenching’ injury