Penguins Defensemen Step Up to Protect Crosby in Preseason Loss to Red Wings

Declan Carlile, Ilya Solovyov and Kaeden Korczak repeatedly came to Sidney Crosby's aid during Pittsburgh's 7-4 preseason loss to Detroit.

Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen made a point of protecting captain Sidney Crosby on Tuesday night during a 7-4 preseason loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Rookie defenseman Declan Carlile, along with Ilya Solovyov and Kaedan Korczak, responded physically when Detroit players took extra liberties with Crosby.

The first incident came in the opening period, when Ben Chiarot shoved Crosby near the net after a scoring chance and was joined by Red Wings teammates. Carlile and his defense partner Solovyov stepped in, and Carlile had to be restrained as he continued to go after Chiarot.

Carlile said after the game that standing up for teammates is simply part of his role. "If you're going after the best player in the league, you're going to have to answer a little bit," he said. He added that while he does not want to take penalties, he is not afraid to defend his teammates.

Solovyov echoed the sentiment, saying players need to defend Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson because opponents target the team's stars. In the third period, Carlile took a double roughing penalty plus a 10-minute misconduct after confronting Detroit's Wilmer Skoog along the boards, admitting he had reached his limit with after-whistle contact but would not take that penalty in a regular-season game.

Penguins head coach Dan Muse backed his defensemen's approach, saying players need to protect all their teammates and be hard to play against.