Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
On Wednesday, Sidney Crosby earned the first embellishment penalty of his career while trying to draw a call in a game against the Flyers. Fans in Philadelphia decided to troll the veteran with a billboard capturing that moment, but failed to truly commit to the bit based on where it went up.
Rivalries are inherently better when both of the teams involved are actually competitive, and that hasn’t really been the case for the one between the Penguins and the Flyers since the start of the decade.
Philadelphia headed into the current season riding a five-year playoff drought, and Pittsburgh had missed three consecutive postseasons after previously earning the right to play for the Stanley Cup 16 years in a row.
Both squads were able to turn things around this season, and we were subsequently treated to the first Stanley Cup Playoff edition of the Battle of Pennsylvania since 2018 when the first round kicked off.
The Flyers had the chance to take a 2-0 lead on Wednesday night, and they did exactly that in a very spirited contest where the two teams collectively racked up 50 penalty minutes.
Sidney Crosby was responsible for a couple of them with the embellishment call he earned toward the end of the first period, which marked the first time he’d been sent to the sin bin for on-ice dramatics during his 21-year career.
A picture that captured his laughable overreaction ended up on a billboard that was commissioned by fans in Philly, but they missed the mark when it came to its location.
Flyers fans tried to troll Sidney Crosby with a billboard that went up next to a highway in Philadelphia as opposed to Pittsburgh
Purchasing a billboard to try to rile up your rivals can be a very effective strategy for fans and teams looking for a creative way to take a victory lap. In 2022, UCF fired a shot at Florida with a message that was erected in Gainesville, and Cal commissioned some ads in the heart of SEC Country after topping Auburn a couple of years ago.
On Thursday, an image of Crosby lying on the ice next to the definition of embellishment was plastered on a billboard overlooking I-95.
Our billboard along 95 is now live!! Just a friendly reminder for Pittsburgh!👊
We love being petty with @KeystoneOutdoor 😂 pic.twitter.com/yM1IoWIRFX
— Phans of Philly – Road Game Tailgates & Travel! (@PhansofPhilly) April 23, 2026
Now, before I say anything else, I would like to make it clear that I respect the pettiness and the effort put in by the “Phans of Philly,” the group that went out of its way to mock Crosby over the comical dive that led to an amazing exchange with a fan sitting behind the penalty box who essentially got him to admit he was shameless attempting to draw a call.
However, as most people on the East Coast are probably aware, I-95 runs through Philadelphia, not Pittsburgh, which means the billboard was largely playing to the hometown crowd as opposed to Yinzers on the other side of the state who probably would have had a much more visceral reaction if they encountered it while driving.
Now, there’s always a chance the group behind it tried to find a company willing to put it up in Pittsburgh only to get stonewalled (which is the issue Dan Le Batard encountered when he tried to pay for a billboard in Edmonton after the Panthers won the Stanley Cup in 2024), and it does seems safe to assume there were at least a few unsuspecting Penguins fans who drove by it in the City of Brotherly Love.
That’s where the series will be heading back to on Saturday night, and history strongly suggests Crosby and the Penguins will need to emerge with a win if they want any chance of advancing to the next round.