PITTSBURGH – If you saw Dion Phaneuf trading a couple gloved punches with Sidney Crosby on Wednesday night and wondered why it looked so familiar, that’s because it was. These two really relish the opportunity to be in the heat of battle with one another.
In fact, their on-ice rivalry stretches all the way back to a Team Canada inter-squad ahead of the 2005 world junior tournament – a memory that brought a big smile to Phaneuf’s face even in the frustrating moments after Toronto’s 6-5 shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Consol Energy Center.
More than nine years later, the Leafs captain had no trouble recounting the details.
"It was the summer camp and we were battling with each other and it actually started a pretty big scrum," Phaneuf told sportsnet.ca. "It led to a fight between me and Colin Fraser. Sid and I have been playing hard against each other for a long time and it really goes back to then."
One of the most compelling stretches of an entertaining game on Wednesday night came during the second period with Crosby and Phaneuf competing for space. First, Phaneuf knocked Crosby to the ice behind the Leafs net and then he collided with him again about 10 seconds later on the side boards.
That brought the team captains face to face and saw them exchange a few playful jabs.
It was all by design for Phaneuf, who has done an excellent job this season when tasked with shutting down players of Crosby’s ilk. The key for him in those situations is staying as close as possible to the man he’s trying to keep off the scoresheet.
"You’ve got to play them tight," Phaneuf said when asked about facing top players. "When you give guys like Sid time and space they’re going to make you pay. So you want to try and limit that as much as you can.
"They’re still going to make plays – he’s the best player in the league, he has been for a while – but that makes it harder on him."
This was far from an easy game for Crosby despite all of the offence on display. The NHL scoring leader was held to a secondary assist on Evgeni Malkin’s power-play goal and a primary one on the controversial play where Malkin tied the game 5-5 in the third period after first shoveling Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier into his net.
That went uncalled by referees Ghislain Hebert and Kevin Pollock, neither of whom was willing to explain the lack of a goaltender interference penalty to Leafs coach Randy Carlyle.
"By that time they didn’t want to talk to anybody," said Carlyle, showing more frustration than usual during his post-game remarks. "They get to a position where they think that they don’t have to talk to people I guess."
With all of the fuss about the tying goal and Toronto’s inability to register a shot in the third period or overtime and a shootout that included highlight goals from both Crosby and Malkin, another solid performance by Phaneuf went well beneath the radar here.
That’s been a common theme so far this season. Heck, Phaneuf was the only Leafs defencemen who came through Monday’s 6-0 pounding at the hands of Columbus with an even plus-minus rating.
Against the Penguins, Carlyle played him for 12:26 of the final 25 minutes of the game – a grueling stretch where the ice was heavily tilted in Pittsburgh’s favour and the Leafs defence was under fire. Given the circumstances, Phaneuf held up awfully well.
That is something the Leafs coaching staff has come to rely on, especially with the rest of the defence corps seemingly in a constant state of flux.
"We believe that Dion has been able to compete against the elite players in the league and we’ll continue to try to get the matchups that are favourable to our group," said Carlyle.
That means we can count on seeing him go head-to-head with Crosby again when the Leafs return to Pittsburgh on Dec. 16. While Phaneuf will have to contend with plenty of other good players in the two-plus weeks before then, he was already looking forward to the next time he lines up across from No. 87.
"We’ve had our battles over the years," said Phaneuf. "I’ve played against Sid for a long time and I’ve got the utmost respect for him. He’s the best player in the league for a reason.
"I enjoy the challenge of it."
It was sure enjoyable to watch.